


Casually Cruel

by mandaestella



Category: Alexbelle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, F/M, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking, like really light drugs/drinking though, teenagers making questionable beverage choices, this is my baby, this will have some mature stuff in the way of violence and depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-15 22:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 61,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1320694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandaestella/pseuds/mandaestella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isabelle didn't want to go to boarding school. She especially didn't want to go to boarding school in Delaware, states away from her home. And she definitely didn't expect to fall in love with it so fast. But when tragedy hits the school, Isabelle will be forced to realize just how much she can handle and just how much she has to lose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isabelle arrives at Dalton, meets her new roommate, and only has a slight attitude about the whole thing.

Isabelle Fuhrman hadn’t wanted to go to boarding school. To be honest, she had been perfectly happy in her regular old public high school. However, when her parents saw the end-of-year statistics in the newspaper, they were appalled. Only one graduating senior had even been accepted to an Ivy League college – and that would just not do. After a lot of discussion on the matter and little input accepted from Isabelle, it was decided – she would head off to Dalton Academy, just like generations of Fuhrmans had done before her. It didn’t matter that Isabelle had just finished her freshman year, that she had friends at Lincoln High, a life. It didn’t matter that she thought boarding school was for rich, pompous, entitled trust fund kids who were just looking to get away from their either overbearing or incredibly distant parents. In fact, it didn’t really matter what Isabelle wanted at all, because she was sixteen and entirely at the mercy of her parents. So she was heading off to Connecticut, whether she liked it or not.

“It’s not going to be as bad as you think. Your dad went there. I went there. Your sister is there. And we all turned out just fine.” Isabelle’s mom sat on her bed, watching her daughter sullenly throw everything she owned into as many suitcases as she could find in her family’s house.

“Well actually, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be even worse than I think,” Isabelle shot back. “But I’m trying to stay optimistic because otherwise I might jump out of the car somewhere around Philadelphia.”

“Isabelle, please.”

“Okay, let’s just look at this again.” Isabelle threw a charcoal-gray sweater into the suitcase lying open on her bed. “First of all, I have friends here. Second of all, I love New York.” She balled up a pair of yoga pants, adding them to the suitcase of sweaters. “Third of all, I don’t need to be around my sister. I had had enough of her long before she took off for boarding school. Fourth of all, Odessa is a town of, like, three hundred people. And you expect me to be excited to leave the city for Hicktown, Delaware?”

“It might be a small town, but it’s a top-of-the-line school. They basically feed graduates to the Ivies. The Holy Trinity. Harvard, Princeton, Yale.” Elina folded a t-shirt, adding it to her daughter’s mess of clothes. “Don’t you want to do something great with your life, Isabelle?”

“And you’re saying I can’t do something great at Lincoln? You’re saying that I have to go to Dalton to become someone?”

Elina sighed. “We just want the best for you, your father and I.”

“That is a cliché, Mom. And just because it was the best for you does not mean it’s what’s best for me.”

“Isabelle.” At her mother’s tone, Isabelle stopped cramming clothes into her mom’s prized Louis Vuitton trunk. “Don’t you want to do great things?”

“Those kids don’t do great things, Mom. They drink and smoke and party. They live off their parents’ money just because they can. They don’t work because they don’t have to. How is that doing something great?”

Elina scooted closer to Isabelle, taking her hands. “You don’t have to be like that, Isabelle. You can do anything you want to.”

Isabelle sat there for a moment, silent, before standing up and scooping a pile of jeans off the floor, dumping them into a box. “I’ll go. I won’t complain. But I reserve the right to be a little unhappy with you and Dad for a couple of days.”

“Fair enough.” Elina stood up, heading for the door. “You know,” she said, just before leaving, her hand poised on the doorknob, “Dalton really grows on you. You’ll figure that out soon enough.”

“Good-bye, Mother.”

“And we’re proud of you!” Elina called over her shoulder, heading down the stairs.

As soon as she was gone, Isabelle sat down on the floor amidst the mounds of clothing. Of course I want to do something great, she thought. Who doesn’t? She leaned her head back against the side of her huge four-poster bed. But I don’t want to turn into one of them. Isabelle knew the kinds of people who went to Dalton. God only knew her sister brought one of them home almost every break: her best friend, a new boyfriend; it didn’t really matter because they were all the same. Rich, polished, stinking of money. Dressed in the most expensive clothes money could buy, speeding around in brand new Lambos and Porsches, spending Daddy’s money just for the hell of it. And just because Isabelle’s family had money did not mean she had to turn into one of them.

Isabelle’s father was one of the biggest divorce lawyers in New York City, refereeing fights over alimony, custody, and who gets the house in the Hamptons. Elina was a society wife, planning the benefits and accompanying Nick to the galas. They spent two weeks every fall in Europe, Christmas at St. Bart’s, and summer in the Hamptons. They each had limos and drivers so they never actually had to waste their precious time getting behind the wheel themselves. They drank mimosas for breakfast and martinis at night. They went to the opera and had a housekeeper and lived in the penthouse of a pre-war building with a doorman. They were a quintessential New York couple. So it only made sense when their oldest daughter set off for boarding school as soon as she hit her freshman year of high school, becoming just like the rest of them.

In fact, Isabelle was the anomaly of the family, the exception, the incongruity. And that was the way she liked it. She had her choice of private schools, choosing instead to go to Lincoln. She refused to be driven anywhere, instead taking her bike or walking or (God forbid) the subway. She loved New York, but not the New York her parents knew. She was determined to be different.

Going to boarding school would not change that. She promised herself that. 

**JenniferLawrence: I’m here! Where are you??**

**MackenzieLintz: Just got off the plane. See you tonight!**

“Oh my God.” Isabelle stood at the front gate of Dalton Academy, surveying the scene spread out in front of her. People – her future classmates – were pouring out of the Audis and limos and Bentleys parading through the gates. They were all surrounded by expensive luggage, sunglasses perched on top of their perfect blowouts.

Ivy crawled up the sides of the brick buildings, scattered across the huge campus. To Isabelle’s right were the dorms, a set of seven buildings surrounding a perfectly manicured circle of grass. To her left, the classrooms: the huge glass-walled gym, four regular sized red-brick buildings, and the library – a massive, white-columned building that looked like the Acropolis before it was fatally damaged. And directly in front of her, the cafeteria, rising towards the sky, lined with tall glass windows.

“Here we go,” Isabelle sighed. Her parents, who had been right behind her, had disappeared, probably after seeing some other esteemed alumni who they had to “catch up with.” So she soldiered on alone, hiking her brand new Coach Poppy bag (a going-away present from her parents – Isabelle knew it was technically bribery, but she wanted the bag, even though she was against it on principle) over her shoulder and turning in the direction of the housing office, a small alcove sticking off the front of the cafeteria.

She got in the quickly growing line in front of the window, waiting impatiently for her turn. “Isabelle Fuhrman,” she said as she approached the window.

It took a couple of seconds for the woman behind the window to shuffle through her files, eventually pulling out a sheet of paper. “Okay, it looks like you’re in Hayden. That’s the building at the top of the circle.” She pointed to the dorm farthest away. Of course. “You’re room 117.” She pushed a small brass key towards Isabelle and raised a Nikon. “Smile.” Thirty seconds later, she handed Isabelle her small plastic ID card, still warm from the machine. “You’ll need that to get in the building. If you have any more questions, I’ll be here. Next!”

Isabelle reached down to pick up her bag, which she had released to fall on the ground and dropped her key in it. Whirling around, she ran smack into someone, who had been standing way too close for comfort behind her. “Excuse you,” she said, giving him her best withering stare. He stood at least a head above her and was backlit by the sun, obscuring Isabelle’s view of his face.

“Sorry,” he muttered, pushing past her. Isabelle turned to walk away, looking back once over her shoulder to see him talking to the woman behind the counter. He had the biggest shoulders she had ever seen and a head of spiky blonde hair. She rolled her eyes. Typical boarding school football player.

“Isabelle!” She looked up to see her mom waving her over to where she was standing talking to another woman. “This is Sharlene Ludwig,” her mom said when she got close enough. “She and her husband are old friends of ours.”

“Our son goes here,” Sharlene said pleasantly, holding out her hand to shake Isabelle’s. “He’s around here somewhere. Keep an eye out for him.”

“I will,” Isabelle assured her. She turned to her mom. “I got my room number.”

“Where are you?” Elina didn’t wait for an answer, scanning the piece of paper in Isabelle’s hand. “Oh, Hayden! That’s where I was my freshman year. Of course, after that I moved to McWhorter.” She laughed, joined by Sharlene, as if it was some sort of private joke.

“Um, where’s Dad?”

“Oh, he’s off with my husband,” Sharlene informed Isabelle. “They probably went to check out the fieldhouse.”

Isabelle cleared her throat subtly, trying to convey to her mother as politely as possible that she just wanted to get her stuff and get to her room, out of the sun and away from everyone running around campus. “Well, we should get going,” Elina said, picking up on the hint. “I’ll see you for dinner tonight.”

“Absolutely,” Sharlene said. “It was nice to meet you, Isabelle.”

Isabelle smiled. “You too. I’ll probably see you around.”

As the two walked towards the dorm circle, Elina snapped her fingers, indicating to the men standing by her limo that they were on the move. “This is the Common,” she told Isabelle, gesturing to the big ring of grass in the middle of the dorm buildings. “And this part of campus, the dorms, is called the Village.”

“It’s… great,” Isabelle said, looking around. There were already girls spread out on towels across the grass, in bright pink and orange and blue bikinis, trying to get a tan. Shirtless boys darted among them, throwing Frisbees and showing off. “So where is my dorm?”

“Hayden is right there,” Elina pointed straight in front of her, to the building at the head of the circle. “Do you have your ID?”

Isabelle pulled it out of her pocket. “Right here.” They got to the door and Isabelle pressed her ID up against the sensor, grabbing the door as soon as she heard the lock snap back. She held it open for her mom and the two guys behind them, carrying a couple of her suitcases and a trunk between them. “I’m 117, Mom,” she called ahead to Elina, tossing the key to her. Isabelle followed the movers in to where her mom already had the door to her room propped open.

“This is it!” she announced to Isabelle, holding her arm out like she was presenting the room to her daughter. Isabelle had to admit that it was nicer than the typical dorm room. The floors were hardwood, the walls a pale green. The side facing the Common was made out of a couple of big plate glass windows, a window seat beneath each one. Two beds flanked the room, pressed up against opposite walls, two desks in between and a bulletin board over each. The closet seemed big enough, and the bathroom was a nice size.

Isabelle stepped into the room, dropping her bag onto a bed. There was no sign of her roommate, and Isabelle hoped she wouldn’t mind that she had claimed the bed closest to the window. On the pillow was Isabelle’s “Welcome to Dalton” folder, proudly wearing the school colors (hunter green and silver), the embossed seal on the front declaring her an official Eagle. She flipped open the folder, seeing, at first glance, her class schedule, a list of services the school provided, the name and office number of her advisor, and the dining room menu for the week, as well as a reminder that classes started tomorrow and all students were required to meet in the field house at seven a.m. sharp for the beginning of the year commencement address.

By the time she turned back around, her father was in the room, directing the movers, who were carrying in Isabelle’s last few boxes. “Thanks, guys.” Isabelle saw him press a bill into each of their hands, her father’s signature tipping move. They left, leaving Isabelle alone with her parents.

“Do you need anything else from us right now, honey?” Elina asked her, stepping over boxes and trunks and suitcases to get to Isabelle. “We figured we would leave you alone to unpack.”

“I’m good. Thanks.”

“Okay, well. We’ll be at the hotel tonight, so give us a call if you need any help or food or anything, okay? Otherwise, we hope you have a great first day of class tomorrow.” Elina hugged Isabelle, and even though Isabelle still wanted to be mad at her parents, she hugged her mom back, breathing in the smell of Clinique Happy, her mom’s signature scent. “We love you.”

Her father joined the hug, putting his arms around both of them. “I love you too,” Isabelle replied, letting them hold her for a couple of seconds before pulling away.

And then they turned and walked out the door, leaving Isabelle, a newly christened Dalton Eagle, alone in her dorm room, surrounded by the contents of her brand new life.

**MarkReardon: Did you hear anything about the new girl?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Didn’t hear anything, but she practically ran me over at housing.**

**MarkReardon: She hot?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Tiny. Cute, if that’s your thing. Kinda feisty.**

**MarkReardon: Good. We could use some more feisty around here. It was getting a little boring.**

Jacqueline Bonnell Marteau Emerson hopped out of her dad’s limo, inhaling the crisp air around her. It was so good to be back at Dalton. After an entire summer in D.C., she had been dying to get back to the big campus, the wide-open space that was so lacking in this country’s capital.

“Bye, Louis!” She waved to her dad’s driver, who had been the only one accompanying her back to school. Her parents were busy, and Jackie, who was a sophomore, decided that having them there would make her feel like a new student. And she didn’t want that.

She headed straight towards the housing alcove, waving hello to people as she passed them. Jackie was the kind of girl who knew everyone. “Hey, Bonnie,” she said to the woman in the window.

“Jackie!” Bonnie said, reaching down into her box to find Jackie’s file. “How was your summer?”

“Long. Hot. Couldn’t wait to get back, honestly.”

“Well, it’s good to see you made it in one piece.” Bonnie slid Jackie’s key across the counter to her. “Hayden 117. You haven’t lost your ID already, have you?”

“Got it right here.” Jackie handed it to her. “But if I did, say, happen to misplace it, would I get a new picture?”

“Not a chance, darling.” Bonnie swiped the ID through her little machine, programming it to let Jackie into her new dorm building. “Here you go. All your boxes were delivered to Hayden’s common room, so they should all be there. If not, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks, Bonnie!” Jackie set off in the direction of Hayden. She was only halfway across the Common when she was practically bowled over.

“Jackie!”

“Jen!” Jackie hugged the older girl. “How was your summer?”

“Eventful, as always. Liam and I went to Hawaii.”

“So you two are still together?”

“Together, and better than ever.” Jen tossed her long, dirty blonde hair out of her face. “Where are you this year?”

“Hayden.” Jackie jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the big, brick, ivy-covered building.

“Oh, shit. I’m in McWhorter.”

“Well, you’re a senior,” Jackie said. “You get all the privileges.”

Jen’s phone beeped and she pulled it out, scanning it quickly. “Oh, Kenz is here! I’ll catch up with you soon, okay?”

“Yep!” Jackie waved as Jen darted off. “Tell her hi for me!”

Sure enough, all of Jackie’s boxes were stacked in Hayden’s common room, each one clearly marked with a big JBMT courtesy of Jackie’s mother. I’ll take care of those in a little bit, she told herself, heading down the hallway to her new dorm room. The first thing she saw when she stepped inside was a tiny girl with long, dark hair, throwing clothes into one of the dressers. Her back was to Jackie, so she took a minute to study her new roommate. The girl was wearing a really cute white tank top and the bejeweled Sevens that Jackie had seen at Barney’s the last time she was in New York. Her hair hung down to the middle of her back, and she was the littlest person Jackie thought she had ever seen.

“Hey!” Jackie said. The girl whirled around, as if Jackie had startled her. Jackie closed the door behind her, stepping through the minefield of luggage to get closer to the girl. “Hey,” she said, more calmly. “I’m Jackie. I’m your roommate.”

“Hey,” the girl said, holding out her hand. Jackie saw two gold cuff bracelets dangling from her wrist, the kind Jackie had been begging for all summer. “I’m Isabelle. Nice to meet you.”

They stood in an awkward silence for a little while, the kind that exists between two people who don’t want to be rude but don’t know what to say. “Are you a sophomore?” Isabelle asked.

“Yeah,” Jackie said. “Are you?” The girl nodded. “Oh good!” Jackie latched on to that bit of information. “We’ll have some classes together for sure then.” Another pause. “Are you… new?” She knew the girl was new; it was a small enough school where anyone new caused a bit of a fuss for a while, but she didn’t know what else to say.

“Yes.” Isabelle pushed an empty trunk under her bed. “My sister goes here, and my parents did, and pretty much everyone else in my family, but I managed to escape it for a year.” She paled noticeably. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to… like, insult you or anything.”

Jackie laughed, starting to feel more at ease. “That’s okay. I was really reluctant to come here at first. My parents are alumni too.” She moved over to one of the windows. “Mind if I open this?” Isabelle shook her head, and Jackie cranked the window open, letting in a cool breeze. “It’s not as bad as it seems.”

Isabelle smiled, the first one Jackie had seen from her. “I hope not.”

“Don’t worry.” Jackie sat down on the window seat. “I’ll show you the ropes. You know, who to stay away from, the best seat at the snack bar, where to go if you need somewhere quiet to study.”

Isabelle dropped the sweater she had been holding, sitting down on the window seat next to Jackie. “Good. I was kind of worried.”

“It’s never easy being the new girl,” Jackie agreed. “I got your back.”

Two hours later, the two girls were both completely unpacked and on their way to becoming extremely close friends. They had a lot in common – their shared hatred of anything with bananas in it, their guilty pleasure (Cosmopolitan), and their love for New York City. Isabelle had even given Jackie one of her gold Cartier bracelets, which Jackie could not stop looking at.

“Okay.” Jackie stood up, smoothing out Isabelle’s silky gray comforter. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“I’m gonna show you around.”

Isabelle followed Jackie out the door, turning off the lights as she left. Maybe Dalton wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**DayoOkeniyi: Dude, Jackie’s back.**

**JackQuaid: Dude, the Xbox is set up. Where are you?**

**DayoOkeniyi: She’s roommates with the new girl.**

**JackQuaid: Did you talk to them?**

**DayoOkeniyi: No, I heard it from Jen. Come on. You know you wanna go find them.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Dude.**

**DayoOkeniyi: JACK.**

“Okay.” Jackie was sitting next to Isabelle at a table underneath the awning of the snack bar, a small window jutting off the side of the cafeteria, facing the Commons. Isabelle stirred her strawberry milkshake with her straw, looking over at her roommate. As far as roommates went, Isabelle thought she had gotten pretty lucky. She agreed with Jackie on almost everything, and had even given Jackie one of her Cartier cuff bracelets after she had seen her looking at it. In fact, she really liked her. She turned her attention back to what Jackie was saying. “That’s Dayo.” Jackie was pointing a huge boy crossing the Commons, a cardboard box in his arms. “He plays football. Surprise, surprise. He’s best friends with Jack Quaid. They’re both juniors.”

“Are you good friends with them?” Isabelle asked Jackie, taking a huge slurp of her milkshake. Jackie flushed a little.

“Yes. Jack and I… ah… well, I don’t know. But yeah, we’re good friends.” She craned her neck, looking around the Common. “The thing about Dalton is that there’s a group of people who basically rule it. Most of them are juniors.”

Isabelle made a face. “Great.”

“It’s not so bad. If you know the right people, that is. Which you do, because you know me, so you’re all good.” Jackie pointed again, at a boy walking into the building just to the right of Hayden. “That’s Mark. He’s part of the ruling crowd. Plays soccer. Kind of a perv.” She paused for a second. “And that is Alex. Mark’s roommate and best friend. Football.” Isabelle leaned to the side, trying to see who Jackie was pointing at. Of course, she thought once she got a glimpse. It was the massive blonde guy who she had smashed into at the housing office. “Who else, who else?” Jackie was muttering. “Okay, that’s Jen and Mackenzie.” Jackie gestured towards a tall, blonde-ish girl and a shorter girl with a mess of curls. “Jen is a senior, and Mack is a junior. They both live in McWhorter. That big boy there is Liam, Jen’s boyfriend, he’s a senior, and the one next to him is his roommate, Josh. He’s a junior too. All of those guys live in Maxwell.”

Jesus, Isabelle thought. Almost every guy at this school looks like a college football player. “Okay,” she said to Jackie. “Anyone else?”

“A couple more.” Jackie craned her neck, looking around. “I don’t see them yet.” She turned to Isabelle. “Okay, so the caf is only open for certain hours, and they’re super strict about it. If you get there a minute late, they don’t let you in. It sucks, but the snack bar is open late and you can use your meal points there too. The mailroom is right there.” She pointed at another little alcove protruding from the cafeteria. “If you get a package, they’ll put a slip in your box and you have to take it to the housing office. On the other side of the cafeteria are all the classrooms and the gym. Anyone can use it, but people who play a sport have seniority. The art studio is right next to it. English and philosophy classes are in Beckton; the science labs and math classes are in Finchley; and the languages and history classes are Kingsbury. The music classes and dance hall are in the building behind Finchley. All of the offices, for teachers and guidance counselors and everything, are in Becontree. Then there’s the library, which you probably saw.”

“It’s hard to miss.” Isabelle raised her eyebrows.

“Some huge alumni donated the money to renovate it a while back. It’s super nice inside.”

“What else?” Isabelle asked, actually kind of interested by everything.

“The banquet hall is down that way.” Jackie gestured. “It’s mainly just used for dances and fundraising dinners. The equestrian center is past the Village, and all of the sports fields are in the opposite direction, on the other side of the dorms.” She twisted her hair up on top of her head. “Hayden, McWhorter, and Chilton are the girls’ dorms, and Lucas, Jordan, Maxwell, and Duncan are the boys’. The buildings are every other. You’re allowed in a guys’ dorm until eight and the doors have to be open. And there’s a three feet on the floor rule. Every dorm has a live-in faculty advisor, and they do bed checks and everything which kind of sucks, but there are definitely ways around it.”

Isabelle leaned forward. “Now we’re getting to the interesting stuff.”

Jackie laughed. “Past the banquet hall out in the woods, that’s the party spot. There’s a clearing there and that’s where everyone usually goes. We’ve had bonfires and everything; it’s super nice.” She cleared her throat, taking a sip of her own milkshake (chocolate). “They’re pretty strict here, but as long as you’re careful, you won’t really get in trouble for anything. Just show up to class and don’t fail anything and don’t embarrass the school. Those are the basic rules.”

“Good to know.” Isabelle nodded. Dalton was starting to seem less awful by the minute. “What’s the town like?”

“Odessa? Oh it sucks. It’s tiny and there’s practically nothing. We have to go to Dover or Georgetown to go shopping. Every once in a while, a bunch of people go to Philly or NYC, but that’s not very often.” Jackie paused, glancing at her phone, which was buzzing. “Oh that reminds me. Cell service sucks out here, but you just have to connect to EagleNet, that’s the network, and you can use your email to text. It has this instant message thing, it’s just your first and last name, and it’s really nice actually.”

Isabelle pulled out her iPhone, tapping the Settings icon. “What’s the password?”

“It’s the first three letters of the first name, your middle initial, and the first four letters of your last name, and then the two digit month you were born in and the two digit day.”

“Jesus,” Isabelle muttered, typing isagfuhr0225 into the password bar. Her phone beeped and a message popped up telling her she was connected. “Okay, cool.”

“Oh, okay, look there.” Jackie pointed to two tiny little girls crossing the Common. They looked a little nervous. Probably freshman. “The little blonde one, that’s Willow. She’s the dean’s daughter. It’s her first year.” Jackie paused. “I don’t know who the other one is. She must be a freshman too.”

“This is a whole lot of information,” Isabelle said, sliding her phone back into her bag.

“I know. It kind of sucks. But you pick up on everything really fast.” Jackie shifted in her chair, and Isabelle realized suddenly how uncomfortable these chairs really were. “Let’s see… Oh, spaghetti day is usually Fridays, and it’s the best day to eat dinner in the caf. They do that purposely, because they would rather everyone be on campus than out partying somewhere. Mondays are the worst. Anything with fish, stay far away from it.”

Isabelle laughed. “Remind me of that when the time comes.”

“Oh, and they require that everyone play a sport.”

“Fuck.” Isabelle let the swear word slip from her lips almost reflexively. She liked sports just as much as the next girl, but they didn’t mean she wanted to play one. She would rather just sit around and watch other people do it. “What do you do?”

“Soccer,” Jackie replied. “I suck at it. But I basically get to sit on the bench and record stats. Which I prefer, because I would rather not play.”

“That’s a good strategy,” Isabelle replied, filing it away for later.

“Most of the girls play soccer, but there’s field hockey too.” Jackie waved to a couple of girls passing them.

“Who are they?”

“No idea. That one waved at me first.”

"Do you pretty much know everyone? I mean, it’s not a big school.”

“That’s the thing.” Jackie sighed, tracing the edge of the table with her finger. “It’s a pretty small school, but like I said, there’s a group of people who rule it. I’m kind of on the fringes of that group, which is the way I like it. There’s an inner circle, which is Alex and Mark and—oh! There they are.” Jackie pointed at two girls walking out of the front doors of Hayden. They were both pretty tall. One had bright blonde hair that fell down to the small of her back. The other had dark brown hair and blunt bangs cut straight across her forehead. They both had on short skirts and tank tops, and had their heads together, clearly whispering to each other. The blonde one looked like she was carrying—

“Oh my God,” Isabelle said. “Is that a Birkin bag?”

“Yeah,” Jackie rolled her eyes. “Her dad is one of the big guys at Apple. She paraded that thing around the weekend he sent it to her. I kind of can’t believe she’s still got it.”

Isabelle cleared her throat, shifting in her seat again, which was growing more uncomfortable by the second.

“They,” Jackie continued, “are the queens. They rule everything. The blonde one is a junior; the other one is a senior. Pretty much everyone bows down to them. The blonde one, that’s Leven Rambin. And the other one—”

Isabelle cleared her throat again, figuring it was time to speak up. “That’s Madeline, right?”

Jackie turned to stare at her. “How’d you know that?”

"Well…” Isabelle hesitated. She had been dreading this moment since the second she had found out she would be coming to Dalton. “That’s my sister.”

**MarkReardon: GUYS. New girl is Madeline Fuhrman’s sister.**

**DayoOkeniyi: You’re shitting me.**

**AlexanderLudwig: I THOUGHT SO. I could kind of see a resemblance.**

**JackQuaid: You met her already???**

**AlexanderLudwig: Briefly. It was not unpleasant.**

**JackQuaid: Jackie just texted me. Her name is Isabelle. Jackie says she’s cool.**

**MarkReardon: It’s going to be a great year, boys.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex officially meets Isabelle, Jackie gets caught in a compromising situation, and Leven has a rough first day of school.

As usual, Alexander Ludwig was running late.

It was his third year at Dalton and the third commencement address he had woken up late for. To be fair, it wasn’t really his fault – he clearly remembered telling Mark to make sure he was up by six forty-five. So when his roommate and best friend left without him, Alex decided Mark could shoulder all the blame for his tardiness.

By the time Alex pushed open the big, glass, front door of Maxwell and stepped out onto the green of the Common, he was five minutes late. The campus looked completely deserted, and he pulled his dark green, Dalton-issued, mandatory blazer closer around him against the biting September wind.

It’s not like Alex would get in trouble even if he did get caught sneaking into the fieldhouse at five after seven. His parents were some of the richest alumni ever to come out of Dalton, and under their influence Alex managed to magically extricate himself from any potentially serious trouble he found himself in. It’s not like he ever did anything expulsion-worthy – it was all just the normal stuff, really. He got caught smoking on campus a few times during his sophomore year, and he skipped more math classes than he attended. But as long as he didn’t do anything to publically embarrass the school, his parents’ authority kept him on top.

He was thinking about this as he strolled across campus towards the gym, keeping a look-out for any teachers that might be patrolling the grounds just to catch latecomers like him. Pearl Jam was blasting through his headphones and he was looking down at his phone, which was why he didn’t see her.

“Jesus.” She threw the word over her shoulder at him as she reached down to pick up her sparkly pink bag from where it had fallen when he smashed into her. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Oh God, I’m really sorry.” He hooked the thin white earbuds around his neck, leaning down to pick up her phone. As he handed it back to her, he realized where he had seen her before. “Hey, you were the girl from housing.” Alex smirked as he remembered their encounter from the day before. “You know, we really have to stop meeting like this.”

The girl looked up at him, and he was frozen by her disdainful glare. “Really? That’s the line you’re using on me right now?” She grabbed her phone out of his hand and stalked away from him towards the fieldhouse.

“Hey, wait!” He tucked his own phone into his back pocket and ran after her, grabbing her arm as he caught up to her, the nubby green fabric of her Dalton blazer rough under his hand. “I’m Alexander. You can call me Alex though.” She ignored the hand he offered up to shake, walking a little faster.

Man, she is a piece of work.

“You’re Isabelle, right?”

A flicker of confusion crossed her face, as if she was trying to figure out how he knew her name, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. “I’m late,” she snapped back. “And so are you.”

Alex shrugged. “I’m always late. It doesn’t really worry me anymore.” They crossed in front of the student center, nearing closer to the gym. Alex glanced at his phone – almost ten after. They would have to sneak in.

But of course Isabelle didn’t know that, and she was heading straight for the front doors.

The entire gym was made of glass and brick, and through the side of the building Alex could see the whole school seated in front of the makeshift stage, Dean Shields behind the podium. Alex turned just in time to see Isabelle reach for the door handle, and without thinking he lunged forward, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him. Her gold bracelet clicked against his watch, and she glared up at him, grabbing her arm back.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Alex pushed her gently around the side of the building, and even though she was so hostile, she followed his lead. “Why are you late anyways?”

“That’s really none of your business.”

“Look.” Alex kept his hand on her arm until they reached the back of the building. When they stopped, he gently spun her around to face him, resting his palm on the warm brick above her head. “I don’t know why you dislike me so much, especially since we don’t know each other, but I genuinely just want to get to know you.”

There was silence for a few moments, the only sounds coming from the chirp of birds in the trees behind them. Then Isabelle sighed, twirling a dark strand of hair around her finger. “I didn’t realize the line in the cafeteria would be so long at breakfast this morning. By the time I ate and got back to my room, I didn’t even have time to shower.” She looked up at him. “And yeah, I’m Isabelle.” She hesitated, as if debating whether to share any more information. “Isabelle… Fuhrman. I’m a sophomore.”

“Well, Isabelle…” Alex decided quickly not to bring up her last name or her sister, as it was clearly something she wasn’t proud of. “It’s nice to meet you.” He took a step backwards, reaching toward the fire exit. “Now let’s try to get you in here without any problems.”

"Wait!” Isabelle grabbed his arm, and a row of goosebumps rose up along his spine. “You’re going to set the alarm off!”

Alex attempted (badly) to suppress his smirk. “Oh, sweetheart. You’ve got a lot to learn.”

He carefully eased the door open, peeking through to see how good their chances were of getting into their seats unseen. “Okay,” he whispered as quietly as possible. “There’s two empty seats at the back there. I’ll go first so I can cover you. Ready?”

He didn’t wait for her response, reaching behind him to make sure she was still standing there.

“And… go!”

**JackQuaid: I have never been more bored in my entire life.**

**MarkReardon: Just wait until we’re suffering through physics an hour from now.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Where the hell is Xander?**

**MarkReardon: Don’t even start, bro. I swear I tried to wake him up like 5 times this morning…**

**JackQuaid: It’s the first day of school. What could he possibly be doing?**

Leven Rambin had never been more exhausted in her entire life. She knew she should have gone to sleep earlier. She knew it at ten o’clock last night when her roommate Madeline turned off the light, rolled over, and fell asleep instantly. She knew it at eleven thirty after she had been tossing and turning for an hour and a half. She knew it at eleven forty-five when her phone glowed bright with a text and she pulled a sweatshirt over her head. And she knew it at twelve oh five when Alex had her pressed up against the back of the barely used banquet hall, his lips on her neck and his hand inching up underneath her sweatshirt.

Six hours. That was all it took Leven to fall under Alex’s spell again.

She tried to hide her yawn from the hawk-like eyes of Dean Shields as he droned on about the start of the year and how great it was going to be and blah blah blah. Yeah, it’s already going pretty stellar, she thought. It had been worth it, even if she had to use half a tube of concealer to hide her dark under eye circles this morning.

Speaking of last night… where was Alex anyways?

Leven surreptitiously tried to look around. Dayo, Jack, and Mark had their phones out and were leaning forward, hiding from the teachers scattered around the gym. Madeline, sitting next to her, had her eyes closed behind the curtain of her long, dark bangs. Jackie, on the other side of Jack, was craning her neck, clearly looking for someone. Mackenzie was drawing on the knee of Josh’s faded jeans with a ballpoint pen, and Liam was absentmindedly rubbing the back of Jen’s neck. Alex was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey!” His voice floated up over her shoulder, barely even a whisper, and she turned her head, her cheek brushing her shoulder and her long sideswept bangs falling over one eye.

“Where were you?”

“Right here.” Alex shrugged mischievously. “I’ve been here the entire time.”

It was at that moment that Leven saw the tiny dark-haired girl sitting next to Alex, her green blazer pulled on over a white tank top and black cigarette pants. She looked suspiciously like—

“Where the hell were you?” Madeline was suddenly awake, twisted around in her seat to talk to the new girl. And suddenly Leven realized who she was. “If you get into trouble, it’s my ass on the line. You know Mom and Dad will blame that shit on me.”

The new girl rolled her eyes like only a younger sister could. “Relax. God, not everything revolves around you.”

Madeline rolled her eyes back, tossing her hair and facing front before Dean Shields could catch them talking. “That’s my younger sister,” she whispered to Leven before she could ask. “Isabelle. She is a pain in my ass.”

Behind them, Leven heard Isabelle snort softly and Alex laughing. She gripped the edge of her chair to keep herself from turning around to see why the hell he was with the new girl. She’s a sophomore, Leven found herself thinking. Why is he even hanging out with her? And where were they just now? Before she knew it, her mind was running wild, and she had to force herself to turn her attention back to Dean Shields.

Everyone, even the teachers, knew that not one student in this room was paying attention, and it was a relief when Leven finally heard Dean Shields say, “Now let’s all try to have a good year!” There was a mad rush for the door, and before Leven could turn around to say something to Alex, he had run over to his boys and Isabelle was being pulled away by Jackie, who had raced over to her as soon as the last syllable came out of the dean’s mouth.

She tried to put it out of her mind, knowing that this new girl had nothing on the relationship she had with Alex, messed up as it might be. She might be Madeline’s sister, but she had no idea how this school worked. It was Leven’s turf, and she remained at the top no matter what. As it rightfully should be, she thought smugly on her way to Government.

**MarkReardon: What’s the story with the new girl?**

**AlexanderLudwig: What are you talking about?**

**MarkReardon: Dude, half the school saw you sneak in with her.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Oh. She’s really cool. I don’t think she really likes me though.**

**MarkReardon: Ha, really?**

**AlexanderLudwig: For now… I’m going to do my best to change that.**

**MarkReardon: How?**

**AlexanderLudwig: I’m still working on it.**

**—**

**LevenRambin: Hey :)**

**LevenRambin: Meeting again tonight?**

**LevenRambin: Alex?**

This school wasn’t as bad as Isabelle thought it might be. Sure, the day had started off a little sucky – she had no idea that it would literally take her an hour to get through the breakfast line. And then everything got a little bit weirder when she ran into Alex in the Common. Isabelle also had a sneaking suspicion that her sister’s snobby blonde friend – Leven? – didn’t really like her, but that could just be her imagination, since she definitely hadn’t done anything to piss anyone off yet.

But compared to the slightly rough morning, the rest of the day was smooth sailing. Chemistry kind of sucked and Algebra wasn’t a breeze, but Isabelle instantly fell in love with her English class. There was something about the way it was set up that made her feel like the teacher thought of them as actual people, not just students, and Jackie was in the same section which was a bonus. So far, she was actually enjoying herself.

By the time Isabelle got back to her room after her last class (Music, which was a total waste of time – Madeline was the only one in the Fuhrman family who was talented in that aspect), Jackie was already there – and she wasn’t alone.

“Shit!”

As Isabelle closed the door behind her, someone rolled off Jackie’s bed, hitting the floor with a thump and swearing loudly.

Isabelle tried her best to hide her smirk, but she could tell she wasn’t doing very well. “What happened to the whole three-feet-on-the-floor rule?”

The guy on the floor stood up, brushing himself off and smiling sheepishly. “Hey, I’m Jack.”

“Isabelle,” she grinned, holding out her hand and giggling at Jackie, who was sitting cross-legged on her bed behind Jack, picking at a loose thread on the fabric, cheeks bright red. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Jack started inching towards the door. “I… uh, I’m gonna run, Jackie… but I’ll see you around? Okay, bye!” He was out the door before Jackie could even answer, and as soon as it shut behind him, she fell back onto the bedspread, covering her face with a pillow.

“So!” Isabelle said brightly, hoisting herself up onto the window seat. “That’s Jack.”

“That is Jack.”

“What’s the deal with him?”

A big sigh emerged from beneath the pillow and Isabelle had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. “There’s no deal. We’re just… friends.”

“Friends?”

“Friends.” Jackie sat up, throwing the pillow towards the end of the bed. “And speaking of friends, what is up with you just strolling in ten minutes with Alexander Ludwig this morning?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes, resting her temple against the cold glass of the window, staring out onto the Common. She saw Jack walking out of Hayden and meeting up with a group of guys in front of Maxwell and Leven and Madeline sitting on the grass outside of the upperclassmen girls’ dorm.

“Yeah, I don’t really know what that was all about.” Isabelle watched Madeline nudge Leven and point to the boys. “I was running late, and so was he, and he just kind of followed me.”

“Wait, so you didn’t like hook up or anything?”

“Ew, what?”

“Well!” Jackie raised both her eyebrows, like she was in on a secret that Isabelle wasn’t. “That’s kind of what he’s known for, isn’t it?”

“You’re asking me? How the hell would I know?”

“Sorry, sorry.” Jackie stood up, pushing her way onto the window seat and draping her legs over Isabelle’s. “I forgot you’re new.” Jackie rapped softly on the window with her knuckles, signaling Isabelle to look outside. Alex was leaning up against Maxwell, his arm slung over Mackenzie Lintz’s shoulder. She was looking up at him and twisting a curl around her finger. “He’s kind of a player. And by kind of, I mean the world’s biggest. When he was a freshman, he dated this senior, Nicole, and ever since then he’s been pretty insufferable. He was with Jen for a little bit at the beginning of last year, and right now I’m pretty sure he’s hooking up with both Leven and Mack, although I don’t think they know they’re not the only one.” She looked back at Isabelle. “And now, you.”

“Not me!” Isabelle pushed off the window seat, making her way over to the mirror hanging above the dresser. “Here’s how it went.” She tipped her head to the side, weaving her hair into a fishtail. “I was running over to the fieldhouse and he almost knocked me over, which pissed me off obviously, so I just walked away from him and then he followed me. And then when we got there, he helped me sneak in, so I had to sit next to him because there were two empty seats in the back.” She snapped an elastic onto the end of her braid. “And that was it. Now can we please go to dinner?”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Jackie walked over to Isabelle, tucking a stray piece of hair into her braid. “I’ll drop it for now. But just remember what I told you.”

So Isabelle filed it away in a far corner of her brain – Alexander Ludwig is probably trouble – not realizing at the time how true it would come to be.

**WillowShields: How was your first day?**

**AmandlaStenberg: Decent, but some of the upperclassmen are kind of scary. It’s like a soap opera here.**

**WillowShields: It’s all just sand through the hourglass, babe.**

**AmandlaStenberg: Tell me about it! Meet you at dinner in five?**

**WillowShields: See you there xx**

Leven sat in the cafeteria across from Madeline and Jen, picking at her salad. It was a Monday, so the food was worse than normal, but the menu tonight was downright disgusting – pizza that basically looked (and tasted) like various colors of foam covered in sauce. So she and Madeline had to resort to their usual Monday dinner – salad without dressing and vanilla yogurt.

Jen pushed her pizza away, making an offended face. Mackenzie plopped down next to her, pulling Madeline’s glass of water towards her and taking a big gulp. “Where’ve you been?” Jen asked her roommate.

“Nowhere.” Mackenzie shrugged. “I just wasn’t really that hungry.”

Yeah, sure, Leven thought bitterly. I’m not as stupid as Alex thinks I am. She stood up, leaving her tray on the table. “I’ll see y’all later. I’m gonna go take a walk.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, stalking out the door, past the table of junior boys – Alex, Jack, Dayo, Mark, and Josh – who were flicking soda cracker crumbs at each other, a smaller table where Jackie and Madeline’s sister were seated, their heads pressed together and were whispering to each other, and two little girls standing by the door, one blonde, one with dark curly hair.

Leven had been at Dalton since she was a freshman, just like the rest of her friends. She knew everyone, or at least the people who mattered anyways. Madeline was her first roommate, and they were instantly inseparable. Last year the boys in their grade had called them the Twenty, because they were both tens and they were always together. Madeline had picked up Mackenzie in freshman Biology, and Mackenzie had brought along Jen, who was a year older than them. The four of them had been together ever since.

To be honest, Dalton wasn’t exactly what she had expected. With her long blonde hair, icy mint eyes, and parents with money older than the Civil War, Leven was a stereotypical Southern belle. She had grown up on a huge horse farm in Georgia with three older brothers who all rode bulls and raised hell before going to college and then law or med school, just like they were expected to. So Leven did what she was expected to – she went to Dalton, where she was one of the biggest legacies the school ever had, and she would go to law school or med school or get some big internship with Vogue or Glamour or maybe a big clothing label. And she was fine with that.

But she hadn’t anticipated becoming friends with these people. Yes, they were all rich and motivated and Dalton legacies. And yes, they were all expected to do big things, to follow in their parents’ footsteps. Clearly, they all had a lot in common. But Leven hadn’t expected to like them all so much.

She pushed through the doors of the student center out into the crisp New England air and veered left towards the woods. As soon as she got to the tree line, she sat down, her back to a tree, and pulled out her phone, checking to see if she had gotten a text back from Alex.

Nothing.

“Hey, doll.” Alex appeared next to her, throwing himself down on the carpet of brightly colored leaves blanketing the grass. “What are you doing out here by yourself?”

“Just needed some air.” She could feel the heat of his leg next to hers and scooted a little bit closer to him. It didn’t really matter how many times she told herself that Alex was bad news – every time he showed up, she went running back to him. “Where were you earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“I sent you a text and you didn’t answer.”

“Oh, sorry.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, lighting up the air around them. “I must not have seen it.” Alex pressed a few buttons, surreptitiously tilting it away from Leven before sliding it back into his sweatshirt pocket. “But I’m here now.”

“Yeah.” Leven leaned closer, resting her head on his shoulder. “You’re here now.”

**MarkReardon: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PARTY TONIGHT AT THE CIRCLE 9PM. Invite whoever you want, but be careful getting out there. We don’t want anyone to get caught this time (LUDWIG). Booze courtesy of my parent’s credit card, bonfire courtesy of Liam’s Boy Scout skills. See you all there!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark hosts a back to school party, everyone gets a little drunk, and certain people can't contain their anger anymore.

**MadelineFuhrman: Mack and I are almost to The Circle. Where are you??**

**LevenRambin: Alex and I are on our way. Be there in a few.**

Madeline Fuhrman was really starting to hate having her younger sister at Dalton. Sure, she loved Isabelle the way all older sisters loved their siblings: she could be incredibly protective and deep down she knew she would do anything for her sister, but Isabelle was mostly just a pain in her ass. Madeline was a queen at Dalton; this was her school, her crowd, her turf. And within a span of twenty-four hours, Isabelle had managed to stray right into her territory, with her new best friend and the attention of the most popular guy on campus. And that just wouldn’t do.

But it didn’t matter now, because Madeline was the one at the first-day-of-classes party that Mark always threw every year. And Isabelle was nowhere in sight. Why would she be? Sophomores never got invited to this party. So for a few hours, Dalton would go back to being an Isabelle-free zone, just the way Madeline liked it.

By the time she and Mackenzie made their way out to The Circle, being as quiet as possible to ensure that they didn’t catch the eyes of any watchful teachers, it seemed like half the school was already there. They were tucked far enough into the woods to be virtually unnoticeable, which was a good thing because Madeline could hear the junior boys (and Liam) arguing before The Circle even came into sight.

“Forget what they taught you in Scouts, Liam. We’re doing this the Dayo way.”

“Back off, Okeniyi. Last time you made the bonfire, I didn’t have eyebrows for a month.”

“Well, I told you not to stand there. You were basically asking for it.”

“I swear to God, Dayo, if you do not get away from my fire this second—”

“You’re gonna do what… drown me in your tears?”

“I have smoke in my eyes, for the last time!”

“Boys, boys, boys!” As Madeline and Mackenzie pushed through the tree line into the empty expanse of The Circle, she could see Mark throwing an arm around Liam and Dayo. “What is all the fighting about? This is a party!”

“There’s not going to be a party if Dayo ruins my bonfire.”

“Okay, I’m telling you right now, if you keep this up, I’m kicking you both the hell out.” Mark pushed Liam and Dayo away from him, turning around just in time to see Madeline and Mack waltzing towards him. “My two favorite girls!” He bounded closer to them, kissing them both on the cheek and producing two red Solo cups seemingly out of nowhere. But Madeline knew that was just how Mark worked. He was a more outgoing, more laidback version of Alex, and unlike Alex everyone loved him.

“Hey, Mark,” Madeline said, taking the cup from his hand and sniffing it, wrinkling her noise at the smell. “The guest list just keeps getting bigger, huh?”

“Well, you know me.” He released the girls from his grip, spotting someone else who had just arrived and leaving the two to their own devices. “There’s nothing I love more than a good party!”

“Trust me, we know.” Mack rolled her eyes, downing her drink in record time before crushing her cup against her leg and throwing it into the fire where the plastic hissed and quickly started to melt. “I need another drink, ay-sap.”

Madeline looked around, attempting to locate the drinks that were flowing in abundance. The bonfire was roaring hugely, despite Dayo’s insistence that it needed to be fixed. Logs and chairs were scattered in rings around the fire, and little wooden ice houses that had been erected by some previous go-getting upperclassmen who had long since graduated dotted the clearing.

At the moment, there was almost no room to move. Mack and Madeline elbowed their way to the outskirts of the crowd to avoid being accidentally bumped into the fire. She saw Dayo and Jack sitting on a log, knocking back beers and throwing twigs into the fire. Mark was surrounded by three or four blonde girls, all of them laughing hysterically at something that probably wasn’t all that funny. Liam already had Jen pressed up against the wall of one of the ice houses, and Madeline tried not to look too closely but it seemed like he was basically swallowing her face. Josh was nowhere to be seen, but he had to be around somewhere – Josh was never the guy to miss a good party. It was only a few seconds later that Madeline saw him emerging from the ice house marked DRINKS.

“There.” She pushed Mack towards the door. “Hey, Josh.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek as they passed him.

“Mads!” His cheeks were slightly flushed and his eyes were just a little glassy, indicating that he had probably been here for a while. “Did I hear that your sister was here?”

She didn’t even dignify that with a response, just rolling her eyes at him and pushing through the skinny wooden door.

“What do we want?” Mackenzie asked, already rummaging through one of the tens of coolers stacked around the shed. Mark really outdid himself this time.

“Whatever,” Madeline said, holding out her hand. “Give me anything.” Usually she was pretty picky – yes, alcohol was alcohol, but she generally preferred to ingest her liquor without actually having to taste it – but the remark from Josh had made her just a little bit stroppy. So when Mack slapped a Corona down in her palm, she just knocked the cap off against the door frame and took a few big gulps.

A few seconds later, her phone buzzed in her back pocket, and when she pulled it out and read the text, she saw that Leven was finally here, having arrived with Alex of all people. Being friends with both Mack and Leven, she knew what Alex was trying to pull with the two of them. And because she was friends with both of them, she didn’t know what to do about it. So she just held her breath, hoping that they would stay in the dark until she figured out whether she should bust Alex or not.

“Grab one for Lev,” she said to Mackenzie, missing Mack’s eye roll as she turned around to push back out the door, scanning the crowd for her best friend.

She finally saw her, snuggled up to Mark’s side, plucking the joint out of his mouth to take a drag on it. Madeline rolled her eyes. Leven had been here all of five minutes and she was already on her way to being out of it. Nothing new there.

“Maddie!” Leven shrieked as soon as she got close enough to be spotted. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, sucking up all the firelight in the clearing, and she had a hard lemonade in her hand, pink lipstick already staining the rim of the bottle. “Maddie, come here!” She passed the joint to Alex and pulled Madeline close to her, throwing both arms around her neck and enveloping her in Angel perfume, green apple shampoo, and pot smoke.

Madeline was about to let loose a cutting remark about Leven’s lack of self-control or something to that effect (she hadn’t quite figured it out yet) when she saw her.

“What the fuck?”

“What the fuck what?” Leven whirled around, looking over her shoulder. “What the fuck what?”

“What is she doing here?”

“Oh, hey!” Mark decided to pick that moment to become involved in the conversation, grabbing the burned-down roach from Alex and throwing it in the fire. “That’s your sister!”

Madeline was too pissed and Leven was too high to notice how quickly Alex turned around at Mark’s words.

And sure enough, it was Isabelle, standing at the edge of the ring of people around the fire. She looked a little bit nervous but Jackie was with there, whispering hurriedly in her ear. As Madeline watched, Josh approached the two of them, fist-bumping Jackie and holding his hand out to Isabelle.

“Mark!” Madeline grabbed his arm, pulling him away from Leven and Alex. “Did you invite her?”

To his credit, he looked confused, like he really didn’t understand why Madeline was so mad. “Well, yeah?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced over Madeline’s shoulder at Alex. “She’s friends with Jackie. And we like Jackie. Don’t we like Jackie?”

“Yes, we like Jackie. Jackie’s great. Whatever. But I do not want my sister here.”

“Do you seriously want me to go over there and tell her to leave? Because I’m gonna have to tell you, Mads, I don’t really want to do that.”

“I’m not a bitch! I’m just informing you, for future reference, not to fucking do that.”

“Sorry, Maddie.” And he did genuinely look sorry, putting down his beer and pressing his lips to her forehead. “I just don’t get what the big deal is.”

“I know you don’t. But thanks anyway.”

She pushed away from Mark, leaving her friends behind and ducking behind the nearest ice house. She dropped down to the ground, giving no thought to the fact that she was wearing her newest Citizens of Humanity jeans and it was September in New England, which meant that the ground was slightly damp for no reason at all. Madeline took a few deep breaths, resting her head on her knees.

To be honest, she wasn’t all that sure why it bugged her so much. But did she really need a reason? Madeline and Isabelle had never been close, not even when they were little kids. When Madeline left for Dalton for her freshman year, Isabelle had been about to start eighth grade, and even then Madeline could tell just what Isabelle thought about her: that she was spoiled and rich and would never have to work for what she wanted. And every time she came home, Isabelle would smile and hug her and pretend like she was psyched to see her sister, but Madeline knew she wasn’t.

So it was a huge surprise when Elina and Nick informed her that Isabelle had decided to go to Dalton.

And it was a bigger surprise when Isabelle wormed in her way into Madeline’s life so easily.

This was really going to take some getting used to.

**MackenzieLintz: Where’d you go?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Had to piss. Where are you?**

**MackenzieLintz: Getting another drink. Meet me here.**

**—**

**JackQuaid: So Isabelle is cool right? She won’t tell anyone?**

**JacquelineEmerson: No she won’t.**

**JackQuaid: Okay good.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Is it though? Is it really good?**

**JackQuaid: C’mon babe…don’t be like that.**

**JacquelineEmerson: I’m not being like anything.**

**JackQuaid: We’ve talked about this. I thought you were fine.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Great. No worries. Have fun with your boys.**

**JackQuaid: Jackie come on.**

**JackQuaid: Jackie.**

**JackQuaid: JACQUELINE.**

Leven was drunk. She was a little bit baked. But she was not stupid. So when Alex’s phone buzzed and he turned it away from her while he was checking it, she jumped on it, grabbing it away from him before he could react. He was a lot bigger than her, but he was also a lot drunker at this point, and his reaction time was embarrassingly slow.

“Mackenzie? Really? I knew it!” She shoved the phone back at Alex, pushing him backwards. “Where the fuck is Madeline?”

“Lev, baby, don’t be like this.” He raced after her as she stormed off to find Madeline. “She’s not like you. There’s nobody like you.”

Leven honestly couldn’t believe he was throwing these lines at her right now. So she just ignored him completely, pushing through the people crowding closer. Dalton kids always jumped on any sign of a fight.

It wasn’t like she was in love with Alex or anything. They weren’t even dating. They had once during their freshman year for about three months until Mark caught Leven’s eye during a football game and she decided she was bored. So technically it was Leven’s fault, but she knew one hundred percent that Alex was already done with her anyways. Then during the Jingle Ball sophomore year she had seen Alex walk in with Alana Collins and decided she wanted him back, and they had ended up making out behind the banquet hall. And ever since then, they had been fooling around, although every now and then Leven tried to bring up the possibility of them getting back together.

He’d always said no, and Leven had figured it was because he was just afraid of commitment (which she knew was such a girl thing to say, but she knew she was right), but she should have figured differently. But Mackenzie? Really? She had known there was someone else, but Mackenzie? Really?

Getting another drink. Meet me here. That’s what Mackenzie had texted Alex, which made Leven’s job a little bit easier.

Mackenzie was even more intoxicated than Leven was, which at this point was saying something. She was leaning against the door frame, drunkenly high-fiving everyone who passed her. And she didn’t even see Leven heading straight for her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Leven grabbed Mackenzie, pulling her away from the door and only swaying a little.

Mackenzie blinked a few times. “What are you talking about?”

“What is going on with you and Alex?”

“We’re hooking up… Everyone knows that.”

“You’re hooking up with him?” Leven looked around for Madeline, sensing that she might need some backup sooner rather than later. “We’re hooking up.”

Mackenzie’s eyes narrowed. “Since when?”

“Since like last year.”

Leven didn’t even notice the crowd of people gathering around them until she felt Mackenzie’s palms connecting with her collarbone and pushing her backwards into Madeline, who had showed up in time.

“Holy—” Madeline managed to catch Leven just before she hit the dirt. “What did I miss – Leven, don’t, seriously—”

But it was a little too late for any warning because Leven had already launched herself at Mackenzie, and of course Madeline had to go in after them, and before anyone knew what was happening, there was a full-blown girl fight unfolding in the middle of the party.

Leven had Mackenzie on the ground and was trying to pull her hair when Madeline yanked her backwards, trying to shuffle her out of the fight. But Leven and Mackenzie had been waiting to have it out for quite a while, even if they didn’t know it, and Madeline was no match for both of them.

“Come on, Leven! I am not drunk enough for this!”

“I am way too drunk for this,” Mark smirked off to the side, earning him a punch in the arm from Alex, who (in typical fashion) was standing off to the side doing absolutely nothing.

“I don’t think fighting is the solution!” Madeline shrieked over the uproar. “This is so not worth it!”

“Hey!” Alex looked decidedly too indignant, considering he was the one who had been pulling one over on both of them.

“Oh, shut up!” Madeline hissed over her shoulder, dragging Mackenzie away from Leven. “Do not say anything right now or they will start in on you, which if you ask me is the way it should have been from the beginning!”

**MarkReardon: FIGHT.**

**DayoOkeniyi: What?**

**MarkReardon: FIGHT!**

**JackQuaid: What the hell are you talking about?**

**MarkReardon: Maddie, Mack, Leven. FIGHT.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Oh shit.**

As soon as Jackie got the text from Mark, she grabbed Isabelle and dragged her over to the growing uproar. Isabelle didn’t know who was involved until they pushed their way to the center of the circle of people – all Jackie had said before they rushed off was, “A fight? Seriously?” But as soon as she saw her sister scrambling to keep Leven and Mackenzie apart, she didn’t even hesitate, throwing herself into the center of it to help her sister.

“Madeline, what are you doing?”

And that was when everything changed. A fight involving Leven and Mackenzie wasn’t really anything new – those two fought about something new almost every week. But as soon as Madeline turned on her sister, everyone started to freak out a little.

“Isabelle, get out of here!” She tried to push Isabelle out of the circle, and while it was probably for her own good, Isabelle wasn’t having it, and she pushed back. Before anyone knew what was happening, Jackie was in on it, trying to rescue Isabelle, and once Jackie was in, so was Jack, and before long Dayo, Mark, Alex, and Josh were in on it too and the entire thing had just turned into the most popular kids in school rolling around in the dirt screaming at each other.

Isabelle could hold her own against Madeline, she knew – the two had fought more than normal siblings growing up, but there was a lot going on and she somehow ended up at the center of the pile. As she pushed Madeline off her, going for the hair, everyone gradually started to disappear from the commotion. Liam and Josh, who were late to the chaos (as usual) went straight for Mackenzie and Leven, grabbing them and depositing them on separate logs, telling them to sit the fuck down or there would be consequences. Jack, always the hero, rescued Jackie, who didn’t look so happy at his involvement. Dayo followed Jack, keeping Jackie at bay while Mark and Alex circled Madeline and Isabelle, who were the only ones left, darting in to grab the girls as soon as they could.

“You know I don’t want you here!” Madeline screamed at Isabelle from where she was trapped inside Mark’s arms.

“When did this even turn into your issues with me?” Isabelle spit on the ground, wiping her mouth and checking for blood – and sure enough, there was a red streak painting the back of her hand.

“Well, God knows I’ve got enough of them!”

“You have issues, period, let’s be honest,” Isabelle smirked at her, and it was all Mark could do to keep Madeline from breaking away from him. “And this wasn’t my first choice of arrangement either!”

“So why don’t you go back home then?” Madeline shrieked.

“I wish I could!” Isabelle narrowed her eyes, taking a step towards her sister and immediately being yanked back by Alex. “It would be better than being here with my bitch of a sister!”

“You know you’re only here because Mom and Dad didn’t want to deal with you and your shit anymore!”

And that was enough for Isabelle – she was the good child and she knew it. So for Madeline to imply that she was trouble in front of the entire school, well, it was all she needed to finally snap. She went straight for Madeline’s throat, and probably could have done some serious damage if Alex hadn’t had a firm grip around her waist and lifted her backwards off the ground, tossing her over his shoulder as if she were nothing more than his backpack or an errant child, and he carried her away from everyone, the two sisters still screaming at each other.

The crowd started to break up, seeing that the excitement was over, and Isabelle assumed that the juniors were taking care of Leven and Mackenzie. She put her head down on her knees as soon as Alex pointed to a log, indicating that she should sit down, and she didn’t even know he had gotten up until he came back with a bottle of water.

“Here.” He handed it to her, pulling the cap off and watching her as she took a drink. “Feel any better?”

“Well…” She hesitated, not really wanting to be having this conversation with Alexander Ludwig of all people. “I kind of can’t believe I just got in a fight in front of everyone. I’ve never been in a fight in front of people. In fact, I’ve never been in a fight at all unless you count when Maddie and I were little and stupid. Which I don’t. And I’ve only been here for a day.”

Alex turned his head, trying to hide his smirk in the hood of his sweatshirt, but Isabelle saw it anyways. “What’s so funny?”

“You just seemed so sweet.” Alex laughed, a full out laugh that made Isabelle’s heart jump. “I had no idea you were secretly a bad girl.”

“I’m not!” She wrinkled her nose at him, silently glad that he didn’t think any less of her.

“I’m going to call you Scrappy, since you’re such a fighter.”

“You are not! And I don’t even know how that stupid fight started, much less how I got involved.”

Alex instantly went red. “Yeah… Ah, that might have been my fault just a little bit.”

“Me getting involved?”

“No, the fight in the first place. See, Leven kind of found out about something that I was trying to keep a secret, and…”

“She found out about Mackenzie.” It wasn’t a question and Alex knew it.

“You… you know about Mack.”

It was Isabelle’s turn to laugh now, and she punched Alex lightly in the arm. “So, really, that was all your fault.”

“It might have been.”

“And you did nothing to stop it.”

“Hey!” He looked offended, and Isabelle honestly couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not. “I jumped in there after you!”

There was a loaded pause, both of them trying to figure out why exactly Alex had done that. “So…” Isabelle said, trying for some clarification. “You didn’t stop the fight when it was just Maddie and Mackenzie and Leven… But you stopped it for me?”

Alex snorted, trying to look cool. “No! I was just… I thought maybe it was time for it to be over.”

“Oh please,” Isabelle smirked. “You’re even dumber than you look.”

It was at that moment that Jackie stalked behind the two of them, Jack running behind her saying, “Jac, come on, let’s just talk about this!” and Isabelle’s train of thought was interrupted.

“So are you okay?” Alex asked softly, urging Isabelle to take another drink. “I mean, this is a lot to take in at your first party. They usually aren’t this… psychotic.”

Isabelle thought for a second. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Alex tugged on his hair, something he only did when he was nervous, Isabelle would come to learn.

“How come you’re only nice to me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m the new girl and even I can tell, Alex. You were lying to Leven and Mackenzie. You let them start a fight right in front of you without doing anything about it. You don’t seem to get or care that they both really like you. But you’re sitting here with me while there’s a party going on. I don’t get it.”

Alex shrugged, picking at a piece of wood on the log next to him. “You’re different. Everyone around here has known each other for forever. And you’re just… different.”

“So I’m only exciting because I’m new, huh?”

“No!” Alex looked up, startled, until he saw the joking grin spread across Isabelle’s face. “No, of course not. I’m just… I don’t know. I think you’re cool.”

“Well, thank you.” Isabelle watched Jackie race past her again in the other direction, Jack still tailing her. “I should probably get going.” She gestured to her friend, standing up. “Thanks for the water.”

“Anytime, Isabelle.”

He waited until she was a ways away before he stood up and yelled after her. “You know, if you keep playing hard to get, you’re gonna find yourself all alone! You’ll see, Scrappy.”

From anyone else, this probably would have sounded menacing, or at the very least like an insult, but Isabelle knew Alex wasn’t intentionally cruel. He was just a little stupid sometimes. So she turned around, a grin sliding across her face. “Yeah,” she answered. “Yeah, I guess we’ll see.”

**DayoOkeniyi: Best party ever.**

**MarkReardon: Yeah, I really know how to throw ‘em.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Not because of you, smart ass. I guess New Girl is one of us now, huh?**

**MarkReardon: Looks that way. And you should probably stop calling her New Girl.**

**DayoOkeniyi: It takes a lot of guts to stand up to those three. But I’m sure they’re not going to let this go.**

**MarkReardon: Like I said… it’s gonna be a great year!**

**—**

**JackQuaid: JACKIE, COME ON. I SAID I WAS SORRY. I’m coming over, and I’ll just keep annoying you until let me in!**

**—**

**AlexanderLudwig: Hey, Scrappy.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Oh, God. What do you want?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Just checking to see that you got home safe.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: You walked me to my door… Remember?**

**AlexanderLudwig: How could I forget… See you tomorrow?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Maybe.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Sweet dreams, Scrappy.**

**AlexanderLudwig: And just so you know… I never give up.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hangovers abound, Isabelle attends her first swim practice, Madeline does something she regrets, and Jackie has her sights set on the Homecoming dance.

“Can you please pass me the orange juice?”

“Can you please lower your voice?”

“Can you please not have such a bad attitude right now? I cannot handle it this morning, Leven.”

“If you were as hungover as I was, Mackenzie, you would understand where I’m coming from.”

“I drank just as much as you, and I’m totally fine.”

“Well, you’ve got a lot more practice than me, haven’t you? And besides, I’m not the one who—”

"Oh my God,” Madeline interjected, too annoyed with her two best friends to even attempt a nice tone, “Can you two please shut up? It is too early in the morning for this shit.”

When the three of them snuck back into the dorm circle last night, they had been in the last pack of people to leave the party. After the big fight, Leven and Mackenzie had proceeded to get even drunker behind one of the ice houses with Josh and Jen. Madeline decided not to join them, considering her first class in the morning was Physics and she couldn’t afford to miss it, and laid on the ground in the woods with Mark and Liam, waiting for her friends to decide they’d had enough. Before long, people started filtering out, Isabelle and Alex among the first to leave, a fact that (thankfully) slipped by Mackenzie and Leven.

Madeline had never been more pissed at her younger sister. Yeah, obviously she had been trying to help, but she had no right to get involved in Madeline’s problems, no matter how public they happened to be. Lying in bed last night, Madeline had decided that from here on out she would just pretend her sister didn’t exist. She could have her own friends, and Madeline had hers, and just because they were at the same school didn’t mean their paths had to cross.

In fact, Madeline realized as she looked around the dining hall, Isabelle wasn’t here anywhere. Alex, Jack, Mark, Jackie, and Dayo were gathered around the prime table next to the big bay window that looked out onto the Common, but Isabelle wasn’t with them, and she didn’t seem to be anywhere else either. Breakfast was over in five minutes anyway, so it didn’t seem like there was a chance of her showing up. Good.

“Come on, Lev,” Mackenzie said, standing up and shifting her tray to one hand as she grabbed her backpack from the floor, “We’d better get to Government before Miss Harris has our heads for being tardy on the second day.”

Madeline followed their lead, dumping her tray on the rack by the door before heading out to the circle of class buildings on the other side of the dining hall. She split off from her friends as they pushed open the door of the history building, waving good-bye and telling them she would see them in British Literature. She was glad the two of them were getting along again, if only because it was a whole lot easier for Madeline when she didn’t have to play messenger. Besides, it didn’t really matter who Alex was sleeping with now because he would be on to someone else in about a week, and all three girls knew it.

Speak of the devil.

“What do you want, Alex?” Madeline glared at him as he held open the door to the labs, Mark, Dayo, and Jack trailing behind.

“You know you’re my favorite person, Maddie,” he said, beaming at her, and for just one second she understood why every girl at this school was under his spell. There was no denying how good-looking he actually was, even if he insisted on being such a douche.

“We both know that’s not true, so why don’t you just spit it out?”

“I was just wondering…” He glanced behind him, checking to see that his boys were still out of hearing range. “What’s the deal with your sister? I don’t think she likes me very much.”

Madeline decided to ignore the fact that he was, for some God-forsaken reason, asking her about Isabelle, and instead went with the obvious, “Does anyone really like you, Ludwig?”

“I’m very loved.” He smirked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“Ew, not like that. Is it possible for you to be not pervy for the entirety of this conversation, please?”

“Fine, fine. But do you think you can talk to her for me?”

“I could, but she is my blood relative, which means that – like me – she has good taste. I think you’re out of luck.”

Alex pouted at her, his eyes sparking in the ridiculously fluorescent light that Dalton insisted on putting in every single building. “Come on, Mads. Help a bro out.”

“I’m not your bro,” she said, pushing open the swinging door to the Physics lab and throwing her stuff down on the nearest station. “You’re gonna have to do this one yourself.”

"Fine.” Alex let out a big exaggerated sigh as he sat down next to her, pulling out his binder. “But if I fuck it up, it’s on you.”

“I think I can live with that.” She was about to tell Alex that she didn’t really think her sister was the best choice in the first place, but at that moment the rest of the Wolf Pack burst into the lab and Mark put his freezing hands up the back of her shirt, and she completely forgot her warning.

**JacquelineEmerson: Where were you this morning, boo bear?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Had to get to the field house to sign up for fall sports before class. I’m about to walk into Chem, so I’ll see you at lunch?**

**JacquelineEmerson: Wait, what sport did you decide on???**

“Swimming?” The look on Jackie’s face bordered on incredulous as Isabelle bit into her taco, dripping with lettuce and cheese and sour cream and actually not as bad as she had thought it was going to be.

Isabelle nodded, her mouth full, and swallowed before answering, “Well, I’m not much of a runner. And I swam a little bit in middle school, so I thought maybe – why, is there something wrong with it?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with it. I just don’t think I even know any swimmers.” Jackie wrinkled her nose, thinking.

“Well, now you do.”

Now that Isabelle had officially picked a sport, her last class of the day (originally Music) would instead be spent at the pool, practicing with the rest of the swim team. She had to admit she was happy about that – Music was definitely not her thing. Unlike Jackie, who only had soccer twice a week after classes were over for the day, Isabelle would have practice every single day, which she figured was a small price to pay for getting out of class.

And the best part about it was that none of her sister’s friends were swimmers – not Jack or Dayo or Mark, not Jen or Josh and Liam (although Isabelle actually really liked Josh), not Leven or Mackenzie, and especially not Alex.

She would know – she had made sure before she decided on swimming.

**JackQuaid: Are you done being mad at me now?**

**JacquelineEmerson: I’m not.**

**JackQuaid: You’re a really bad liar.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Okay, fine. We’ll talk tonight.**

**JackQuaid: Promise?**

**JacquelineEmerson: No. So don’t piss me off before then.**

Isabelle took a deep breath, adjusting the strap of her silver racing swimsuit against her shoulder. The air was thick with humidity and chlorine, and she could feel her heart pounding a little bit. It was the first time since she had stepped on campus outside of class that she hadn’t been with Jackie, and she hadn’t realized until this moment how much she needed her new roommate by her side to make her feel comfortable.

She peeked around the corner, the sparkling, bright blue, Olympic-sized pool eating up her vision, huge windows on both ends of the high-ceilinged room letting in the light, rays of sun dancing off the still water. There were people everywhere: swimmers throwing down their caps and goggles on towels scattered around the edge of the pool, coaches with their whistles and clipboards, and no one Isabelle even remotely recognized. No one had ventured into the water yet, and she trying to figure out where she should go when a woman not much taller than her approached her, blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail and swinging through the back of her Dalton Eagles baseball cap.

“Hi!” The woman didn’t seem all that much older than Isabelle, to be honest – maybe in her early twenties, if that? “I’m Lauren,” she said, extending her hand to Isabelle. “I’m one of the coaches.”

“Oh, hi,” Isabelle squeaked out, clutching her dark green Dalton towel closer to her, her goggles swinging from her wrist. “I’m Isabelle… Isabelle Fuhrman. I just transferred here.”

“It’s good to have you!” Lauren put her hand on Isabelle’s shoulder, guiding her over to the bulkhead cutting through the middle of the pool, dividing the shallow end from the deep end and acting as a bridge to the opposite side of the room where everyone was gathered. “We’re so glad we’ve got a transfer student with a little experience.”

“Oh, I’m not that great. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve even been near a pool, to be honest.”

“It comes back to you,” Lauren assured her. “Just like riding a bike.”

They walked up to three other coaches standing in the middle of the bulkhead, engaged in a heated discussion – “I’m telling you right now that without Shoe anchoring the guys’ four hundred IM, we’re screwed.” – which they immediately ceased as they saw Isabelle and Lauren heading towards them.

“This is Isabelle,” Coach Lauren introduced her, and she smiled nervously, holding her hand out to the coaches as they all smiled at her.

“Stella.”

“Wes.”

“Hi, Isabelle, I’m Bentley. I’m the head coach.”

All four of the coaches were really young – Isabelle would guess that Bentley was the oldest, and he couldn’t be a day over twenty-three. But with one glance around the huge, windowed complex, Isabelle realized that this program had a history to uphold – there were championship banners dotting the walls, and she quickly realized that they had been consecutive state champs since 2008. The knot in her stomach tightened even further.

“You can head on over with the others and get warmed up.” Wes pointed over his shoulder to the circle of swimmers who were all stretching together. “We’ll just see what you can do today and then figure out your training from there, okay?”

Isabelle nodded, tightening her French braid and shaking out her arms as she walked over to the group of swimmers. She smiled nervously as she got closer, and two girls closest to her moved over, leaving a spot for her.

A short girl, bright blue streaks dotting her dark brown mess of waves, was leading the stretching, putting one leg over the other and reaching down place her palms flat on the concrete. Isabelle quickly joined in, almost able to touch her knees with her forehead. As she was focusing on her breathing, she heard a small voice from her left.

“Hi.” It was one of the girls who had moved aside to let Isabelle into the circle, and she looked vaguely familiar. “You’re Isabelle Fuhrman, right?”

Isabelle glanced over, her hair falling over her face. “Yeah, hi.” She tried desperately to place the girl in her mind.

“It’s okay, you don’t know me,” the girl whispered. She had bright blonde hair, and she was even shorter than Isabelle. “I’m Willow. I’m the dean’s daughter.”

Isabelle realized quickly that she had seen the girl before on her first night when she and Jackie sat outside the dining hall, watching everyone walk past. “It’s nice to meet you.” Isabelle smiled, straightening up and crossing her legs the other way.

“This is Amandla,” Willow said, glancing quickly at the girl in charge before reaching over and poking the girl next to her in the side. “Amandla,” she hissed. “Meet Isabelle.” Isabelle wiggled her fingers at Amandla, bending down again.

“Hi, Isabelle! Are you new?”

“I transferred. I’m a sophomore.”

“Oh, we’re freshmen,” Willow said. “We were super nervous about starting this today.”

Isabelle immediately felt her the tension in her chest start to melt away. At least she wasn’t the only new girl here. “Me too,” she whispered, smiling at the two girls.

“Okay!” the girl in charge called out. Jade, Isabelle thought, the girl’s name suddenly coming to her. She had been at Mark’s party too, a senior who hung out with three other girls and didn’t seem to have a lot of patience for Mark being a perv all night. “Seniors to the blocks!”

Isabelle followed Amandla and Willow over to where they had laid out their towels, and she dropped her beside theirs, sliding her water bottle next to it. “So now what?”

Amandla shrugged. “Not a clue. We didn’t get much of an explanation. Maybe—”

She was interrupted as Coach Wes came over to them, a small crowd of frightened-looking students in his wake. “We’re going to start y’all separately while the returners warm up, okay?” He didn’t wait for an answer, leading his group of swimmers over to the shallow end of the pool on the other side of the bulkhead. Isabelle snatched up her swim cap and goggles, scurrying to catch up with him. “Everybody in when you’re ready!” he called out, and Isabelle quickly flipped her head upside down, coiling her braid into her swim cap and snapping her goggles over her head.

Amandla and Willow were the first ones in the pool, and Isabelle followed, pleased to see that the water wasn’t freezing cold. Wes settled himself in a chair set up against the window, stretching his legs out and flipping pages on his clipboard.

“You look really familiar,” someone said from the lane on Isabelle’s right side, and for the second time in five minutes she frantically searched her brain, trying to figure out how she knew this person.

“I’m Isabelle,” she said, and she was relieved to see the boy’s eyes widen, like he hadn’t realized who she was either.

He cleared his throat nervously. “I’m Ian. I’m from New York too – I think my school ran track against yours. I went to Highcrest.”

“Oh, yeah!” Isabelle thought back to the state finals last year, Highcrest’s bright yellow uniforms standing out in her mind. “I went to Lincoln! I ran the one hundred.”

“I remember.” Ian smiled. “You tripped coming out of the blocks and still came in second.”

“Not my finest moment.” Isabelle’s cheeks burned bright red. “So this is your first year too?”

“Unfortunately.” Ian rolled his eyes, tossing a dark swatch of hair out of his face. “I wasn’t all for it – not really into the whole entitled crowd.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Their conversation was cut off as Wes began calling out sets. “We’re going to start easy. Fifty free, just down and back.” Isabelle pulled her goggles down, snapping them once to make sure they were completely airtight. “This is not a sprint!” Wes called. “Take it nice and slow!”

And just like that, Isabelle realized that Lauren was right – it did come back to you, just like riding a bike. And she remembered why she used to love swimming so much – when you were under the water, it was just you. None of your problems existed anymore – not the fact that she was miles away from her parents and the city she had fallen in love with, not the fact that she didn’t really fit in at this school, not even the fact that her big sister apparently hated her. And when Wes finally decided that they were ready to do timed trials instead of just leisurely warm-ups, Isabelle clocked in first on almost every single one of them.

“You did good today!” Wes called as the eight newbies hoisted themselves out of the pool, water falling in streams onto the tile. “Good job, Isabelle,” he said to her quietly as she passed him. “I have a feeling you’re gonna be a real star this year.” She couldn’t help the red that burned up her face, instead just hurrying away and burying her face in her towel under the guise that she was squeezing the water out of her hair.

While she was in the locker room, changing, she realized how glad she was that she met Amandla and Willow right away. Looking around the steamy, slightly cramped space, she was intimidated to say the least – all these girls had known each other for years, had been swimming together since they were freshmen, and there was a camaraderie and a rapport that Isabelle doubted she would ever be a part of.

She waved goodbye to her two new friends and was just about to push through the big glass doors of the complex when she was stopped by a voice behind her. “Isabelle, hey! Are you going to dinner?”

Isabelle turned around. “I was going to drop my bag off in my room first, but yeah.”

“Do you want to go together?” Ian looked uncomfortable, and Isabelle immediately felt bad. It wasn’t easy being the new kid in a group that had known each other for years, so much so that it was almost incestuous.

She nodded and smiled. “I’d love to.”

**LevenRambin: Truce?**

**MackenzieLintz: Truce. No more Alex.**

**LevenRambin: Yeah… No more Alex.**

Madeline was trying really hard not to remember how she got to this moment.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, she anchored the blankets to her neck and leaned off the bed, feeling around on the floor for her shirt. As soon as she felt him roll over next to her, snorting softly in his sleep, she stopped, slightly terrified that she was going to wake him and consequently have to explain her way out of what a big mistake this was.

There.

Grabbing her shirt and pulling it over her head, she carefully slipped out of bed, biting her lip and glancing back at him to make sure he was still sleeping. Pants, shoes, bag, and she was out of there.

She would have made it too, if she hadn’t accidentally slammed her knee into the side of his desk.

“What are you doing?”

Great. He was wide awake now.

“I’m… uh…” Madeline glanced around, as if that would somehow help her come up with an excuse. “Going to dinner?”

“Oh, cool, I’ll come with you.” He stretched, the bones in his spine popping, and stood up, with complete disregard for the fact that he was only wearing his boxers.

“Mark, come on.” Madeline tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, ignoring the fact that her phone was vibrating incessantly inside her purse. “It’s fine. You don’t need to act like this is anything.”

He frowned, little lines appearing in between his eyebrows. “I’m not acting. I just want to get dinner.”

“Really?”

“I know that you don’t want anything from me.”

“Well, what do you want?”

Big sigh. “You know what I want, Mads.”

“Okay, well, you know that I can’t be with you. I thought we agreed we would just stay friends.”

“I’m gonna tell you right now, friends don’t really do what we just did.”

“Okay, but—”

"Maddie.” Mark stuck out his bottom lip, taking a step towards her. He wasn’t a bad guy, really. In fact, as far as things went, he was a really good guy, like a better version of Alex. Where Alex was sometimes short-tempered and fussy, Mark was easy-going and cheerful. Where Alex was obnoxious, Mark was nice to everyone he met. Where Alex could be withdrawn and moody, Mark was the life of the party. But neither of them were boyfriend material, and even if he was, it didn’t matter because that was definitely not what Madeline was looking for.

“Okay, Mark, listen up.” She raised her eyebrows, putting her hand on his chest just to make sure he was listening to her. “You’re great. And this was great. But we don’t tell anybody. Got it?”

“Anything for you.” He smiled cheekily at her, and the moment was gone, completely diffused. “Now can we please go get dinner? I’m starving.”

“Fine.”

Madeline reached into her bag for her phone as Mark pulled his pants on. She was just unlocking it, about to check her messages, when she felt his arms go around her from behind, spinning her around to face him, his lips coming down over hers and making her forget about everything.

Mark pushed her gently backwards until her back was up against all the door and all she could focus on was him: his breath warm on her neck, the feel of his muscles under her fingers, his hands tracing her jawline and her collarbone and just brushing underneath the hem of her shirt—

“Hey!” She broke away from him, pushing him backwards. “That’s not fair, you can’t do that!”

“Do what?” He smirked, that stupid devilish grin on his face that Madeline had come to know all too well.

“You know exactly what you’re doing.” She pinched him on the underside of his arm, knowing just how much he hated that, and pushed him towards the door. “Let’s go, I thought you were starving.”

“You’ll come around, Mads. Just you wait.”

**JacquelineEmerson: Hey doll, you coming to dinner?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Just dropping my swim stuff off in the room. Be there in a minute. Watch out for Ian, I told him he could sit with us.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Who’s Ian?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Nvm. See you in a few.**

“Good, you’re here!”

Isabelle’s favorite thing about Jackie so far was that the redhead always acted like her roommate walking into a room was the best thing she had ever experienced in her sixteen years of life. Before Isabelle had even fully stepped into the dining hall, Jackie was up and at her arm, pulling her over to their table. “Look, we’ve got a big crisis,” she was saying.

“Is Ian here?” Isabelle looked around, but she didn’t see any sign of the dark-headed boy. She had told him to meet her there five minutes after they left the swimming complex, but she was late as usual.

“Yeah, I don’t know who that is,” Jackie said, tossing her hair behind her and sitting Isabelle down across the table from her. “But back to the crisis. I have nothing to wear to the Homecoming dance.”

Isabelle tried to hide her smirk. “That’s your crisis?”

“Yes, it is. Because the dance is only like three weeks away, and I need to get into the city to shop.”

“Does this have anything to do with Jack?”

Jackie glared at her, narrowing her eyes. “Do you really want to play that game with me? Because someone has been getting a lot of attention from a certain other someone and I can tell you right now—”

Isabelle laughed, checking her phone under the table. “Fine, fine. We’ll go to the city and get you a dress. Deal?”

“Get us dresses, darling. You’re coming too.”

"I’m not big on dances. Or anything that involves me doing something coordinated in front of a lot of people.”

“You don’t have to be coordinated. You just have to stand there and look pretty.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll go shopping with you if you promise to not talk about this anymore.”

“Deal!”

“Hey, Isabelle?” Isabelle turned around at the voice to see Ian standing behind her, shifting nervously and looking at Jackie like she might bite him.

“Hey!” On impulse, Isabelle stood up, giving him a hug and pulling him to sit down. He was staring apprehensively at Jackie, and Isabelle had a sudden realization that Jackie really was part of the popular crowd – one of the girls that everyone else was scared of, and Isabelle might not have been friends with her if fate and Dalton’s Housing Committee hadn’t put them in the same room together. “This is Jackie,” she said to Ian, patting his arm and trying to telepathically reassure him that she wanted him there.

“Hi, Jackie.” He hesitated. “I’m Ian. Isabelle and I swim together.”

Thankfully, Jackie was Jackie, and she was as nice as ever, welcoming Ian into the conversation and asking him incessant questions about himself, where he was from, what his family did, and how he was liking Dalton so far. She seemed especially ecstatic when she realized he was a sophomore like her and Isabelle, and eventually Ian started to relax.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

“Scrappy.”

When she heard Alex’s voice behind her, Isabelle involuntarily blushed, a red burn slowly working its way up her ears, and she tried not to smile, turning around. “What are you doing here? This isn’t the cool kids table.”

“Clearly.” Alex smirked, and Ian shifted next to Isabelle, scuffing the floor with his foot. “Oh, sorry dude, I didn’t mean you. I just like giving Isabelle shit. I’m Alex, by the way.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ian muttered. “Listen,” he said softly to Isabelle. “I’m gonna take off. I’ll see you tomorrow at practice.”

“Hey, you don’t have to—” But by the time the words came out of her mouth, he was standing up and walking away, throwing a glance back over his shoulder.

“So, Scrappy. Wanna take a walk?”

Isabelle looked up at Alex, standing there with his arms crossed and looking a little less cocky than normal. Jackie kicked her under the table, raising her eyebrows, and Isabelle wasn’t quite sure whether that meant Jackie thought she should go or stay.

“Seems dangerous. My mom told me not to go anywhere with strangers.”

"Oh, please.” Alex snorted. “This is the safest place in the world.”

“Go ahead, Is,” Jackie said, stuffing the rest of her dinner roll in her mouth and standing up. “I’ve got something to take care of anyways.” She wrinkled her nose, signaling to Isabelle that it probably had to do with Jack and she probably wasn’t too excited about having to do it.

“Alright, I’ll see you back at the room.” Jackie was off in a cloud of red hair and green apple shampoo, and it was just Isabelle and Alex, who settled himself down on the bench next to her, his knee just touching hers.

“I thought we were going for a walk.”

“We are.” Alex grinned at her, melting the ice around her heart just a little. “I just want to make sure you have to spend as much time with me as possible.”

“Like I said before – you’re only nice to me.”

“What?” Alex pretended to be offended, his eyes flashing at her in the dimming sunlight filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows. “I was totally nice today.”

“You weren’t nice to Ian.”

“I was nicer than I would normally be. I should get points for that.”

Isabelle rolled her eyes, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“Well, well, well.” Alex stood up with her, grabbing her tray in a display of uncharacteristic chivalry. “I told you that you’d warm up to me, Scrappy.”

“I just want to get this over with.” She bumped her hip against him as they walked out onto the Common together.

“I’m not a stop along the way.” Alex grinned down at her. “I’m a destination, babe.”

“You’re lucky this is the safest place in the world,” Isabelle said, parroting his words back to him. “Or someone would have punched you by now.”

“Maybe, but now I’ve got Scrappy to protect me, haven’t I?”

And even though Isabelle had been warned, she still couldn’t help feeling like she could really like Alex at some point in the future. Who knew, he could turn out to be a really good person to have around.

**MarkReardon: Where are you?**

**MadelineFuhrman: Girls night. I’ve got nothing for ya tonight, sorry.**

**MarkReardon: Well what am I supposed to do then?**

**MadelineFuhrman: You’ve got your wolf pack, haven’t you? And btw, you guys really need to stop calling yourselves that.**

**MarkReardon: One man wolf pack tonight, Fuhrman. Jack’s with Jackie, I have no idea where Dayo is, and Alex is with your sister.**

**MadelineFuhrman: You’re joking.**

**MarkReardon: Never.**

**MadelineFuhrman: Great.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex rescues Isabelle from possible danger, Jack has a dilemma, and everyone attends the first football game of the year.

Unfortunately, Isabelle’s second week of school was not going according to plan.

On Monday, she was rudely woken up with a headache and blood trickling into her eyes, thanks to the framed picture of the New York skyline that fell on her head while she was sleeping.

On Tuesday, she forgot her Chemistry book in her dorm room and had to skip lunch to run back and get it. Jackie assured her later that she didn’t miss anything, other than bad French fries and high school gossip, but she barely made it through swim practice without passing out.

On Wednesday, Madeline cornered her in the history building, demanding to know whether she had talked to Alex lately. The answer was no, but Madeline didn’t seem to believe her, stalking off angrier than Isabelle had seen her since the party. And then Isabelle failed to beat her time at swim practice, making her even more nervous for the first swim meet next weekend.

But Thursday turned out to be strangest.

It had started out okay. She woke up without any drastic head injuries, and she made it to lunch just fine without any incidents. But then during her free period, she decided to go to the library and get some studying done while she could, considering she was spending most of her time at the pool these days.

She had spread her books out in the history chamber, which was a high-ceilinged, pillared room towards the back of the building and away from the big windows that lined the outside of most of the library. That was why she didn’t see it coming. She had plugged her headphones into her computer and was blasting Spotify while she studied, which was why she didn’t hear it coming.

But it came. Out of nowhere.

Isabelle was in the middle of doing research for her American Revolution paper when somebody grabbed her arm, jerking her out of her reverie and scaring the bejesus out of her. “Scrappy, what the hell are you doing here?”

She could swear her heart didn’t skip a beat, but she would just be lying to herself. What was this boy doing to her?

She yanked her earbuds out, staring at Alex in half-confusion and half-annoyance. “I’m trying to write my paper, and you are being kind of distracting.”

Normally, Alex could be counted on to come back with a smart remark to a comment like that, but right now he just looked nervous – almost downright scared, actually, now that Isabelle looked closer.

“Come on,” he said, tugging on her arm insistently, practically dragging her out of her seat. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Okay, fine.” Isabelle shook her arm free, reaching across the table to stack her books, but Alex didn’t even let her do that.

“No, we have to go now. Just leave them.”

“Alex, what the hell is going on?”

“Isabelle, move it.”

It was the sound of her full name coming out of his mouth – not Is, not Izzy, not Scrappy, but Isabelle – that really snapped her into the present and realized that he was more serious right now than she had ever seen him. So she let herself be dragged out of the history library, down the hall and down the stairs into the basement, which housed the rare books and the material that had been deemed too damaged to be allowed into circulation.

When her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she realized there were a couple dozen students huddled down here, holding their phones up for light and talking quietly among themselves. Alex pulled her over to an unoccupied corner.

“Okay, now can you tell me what the hell we’re doing? Because if you brought me down here to kill me, you’ve got a few witnesses.”

“The storm, Isabelle.” He rolled his eyes at her like she was being intentionally dense. “Didn’t you hear?”

“Clearly not.”

Alex sank down to the floor, his back pressed against the wall, and Isabelle followed, pulling her phone out of her pocket before she sat. “I don’t know, there were like storm warnings and stuff, and the sirens are going off, and somebody came into the study rooms and said we should all come down here.”

“How did you even know I was in the library?”

Instead of looking embarrassed, he was back to being his self-assured, overly cocky self, replying, “I’ve been keeping an eye on you, Scrappy. Just to make sure you don’t get into any more trouble.”

Isabelle felt herself turn pink, pulling her legs up to her stomach and resting her elbows on her knees. “Okay, for the last time, I do not usually get into fights.”

"I’m glad to hear it.” Alex leaned closer, looking around the room to make sure everyone else was still occupied in whatever else they were doing. “Are you coming to my game tomorrow?”

“Your game?”

“Football, Isabelle.” She could practically hear Alex rolling his eyes at her, the unspoken duh hanging in the air.

“You say that like I should know.”

“Football is Dalton’s thing,” Alex said proudly, “aside from you star swimmers, that is.”

“I’m not a star.”

“I’ll make you a bet, Scraps,” he said, leaning towards her and lowering his voice. “You come to my game tomorrow, and I’ll come to your meet on Saturday.”

“What if I don’t want you there?”

“Trust me, Isabelle,” he said, grinning at her. “You do.”

At that moment, the entire building shook on its foundation, the old walls around them creaking as the wind whipped through campus. Isabelle looked up as the lights flickered out, everyone gathered in the small underground space growing quiet at the ominous sound. When the backup generator kicked in a few minutes later, the room was bathed in a flickering yellow glow, and that was when Isabelle spotted Ian, sitting in the corner with a textbook on his lap, bent close to the page.

She started to get up to go over to him when Alex put his hand on her knee, a spark jumping between them as the fabric of her sweater ignited a charge. “Isabelle,” he said softly, leaning even closer, close enough so that his hair brushed her cheek and she could smell his cologne. “Come on. You’re always with him.”

“So?”

“Can’t you just sit here with me? For a little while?”

Isabelle glanced at him. He no longer looked cocky, like he had a few seconds ago when he was telling her how much she really wanted him at her swim meet. In fact, he had that look on her face that Isabelle only ever saw when he was around her – almost like he really liked her, like he wasn’t just playing her the way he had Leven and Mackenzie.

Like he really did want to just spend time with her.

“Okay,” she said softly, leaning back against the coolness of the wall, resting her knee against his thigh. “Okay.”

**From: Dean Shields**

**To: AllStudents, AllStaff**

**Msg: Due to inclement weather, all afternoon classes and sports practices are cancelled for the remainder of the day. We ask that all students stay inside for safety reasons.**

It was the first time Alex had ever had a girl in his room, as surprising as that might seem, and even more surprisingly, he was nervous about it. He never invited girls into his room, not Leven or Mackenzie or Jen for those two seconds they had been together. They were more than happy to let him crash with them, so what was the point?

But now Isabelle was standing here in his dorm room, walking around the perimeter of the tiny double, staying far away from the bed, slowly examining everything – the pictures of him and his sisters on his dresser, him and his brother back home in Canada; his football trophies on the bookshelf, which far outnumbered the books; his skis, resting against the wall behind the door; his and Mark’s giant fish tank that took up the entirety of one wall.

“So what do you think?” Alex said, folding his arms. “Do I pass inspection?”

She turned around from where she was standing at his desk, looking over his stacks of DVDs. A small smile crept across her face, indicating that she was a lot more uncomfortable than she seemed. “There’s a lot I don’t know about you.”

“Like that I’m a lot more awesome than I seem?”

“Like…” She ran her hand along the edge of the bed, sitting down on the edge. “Like that you’re not just a dumb football player.”

Alex smirked at her, sitting down next to her, a foot of space separating the two of them. “I appreciate that.” There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Alex spoke up. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

Isabelle reached up, bringing her long waves of hair in front of her shoulder to fall down, dusting her ribcage. “I’d like that.”

They were only a quarter of the way into Miracle when Isabelle fell asleep, her head dropping onto Alex’s shoulder. He leaned back against the pillows stacked against the wall at the head of his bed, careful not to disturb her as he slipped his arm around her to steady her. And they stayed like that for three hours, just the two of them, Isabelle snuffling softly in her sleep as the storm raged around them.

**AlexanderLudwig: Not sure where you are, but please stay there.**

**MarkReardon: You gettin’ some?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Not at all. It’s not like that.**

**MarkReardon: You mean you really like her?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Good bye, Marcus.**

**MarkReardon: Call me that again and I’ll feed you one of the fish while you sleep.**

“So here’s the thing,” Jack said, scratching the back of his neck. “I really like you and I’ve always really liked you. And I know you’ve been pissed at me lately because I was stupid, and I totally admit it. But I was just wondering if you wanted to, like, go to Homecoming with me?”

“No.”

“Dayo, come on. You said you would help me.”

“You told me to be Jackie! And I think Jackie would say no!”

It was Friday morning, and Jack and Dayo were at breakfast. Friday mornings were the best possible time to be early to the cafeteria because it was pancake day, and if you were able to beat the crowd, you might even get whipped cream. But Jack was too nervous to enjoy his breakfast because it was getting close to Homecoming and he had made up his mind to ask Jackie, no matter how annoyed she was with him.

“She’s not going to say no.” Jen slapped her plate down on the table next to Dayo, flicking the back of his neck and making him practically jump out of his chair. “Don’t be a dick, Dayo.”

“No girls allowed,” he whined, knocking Jen’s arm as she sat down.

“Believe me, I could go the rest of my life without having intimate knowledge of your guy talk.” She poked Jack in the arm with her fork, making him move over to give her more room. “However, Josh and Liam are running late, something about the storm knocking out their power and they slept through their alarm or something, I don’t know. So you two are going to keep me company until they get here.”

“Lucky us,” Jack grumbled, clearly still in a bad mood.

“Just ask her.” Jen dug into her pancakes, smothered in whipped cream. She looked up, her mouth full, and continued trying to give Jack advice until he got fed up and flicked a spoonful of whipped cream in her direction.

“Jennifer,” he sounded exasperated, “you are a girl, and therefore could not possibly understand the terror involved in asking someone out.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is I can’t just walk up to her and ask her—”

“Are we talking about Jackie?” Alex sauntered up and dropped his tray on the table, sending a wave of marshmallow milk over Dayo’s almost-empty plate. “Because Jen or whoever is right. You’ve just gotta ask her.”

“Nobody asked you, Ludwig.” Jack rolled his eyes. “You can just walk up to any girl in the school and they’ll just drop their pants right there.”

“Okay, ew!” Jen wrinkled her nose, waving to Josh and Liam as the two of them pushed open the cafeteria doors. “I’m trying to eat here!”

"Where the hell is Mark?” Alex stuffed half of his stack of pancakes in his mouth, looking around for his roommate. “He wasn’t there when I woke up this morning.”

“He said he was going to take his breakfast ‘al fresco,’” Dayo said, putting air quotes around the last two words and rolling his eyes.

“Wait, does that mean without pants?” Alex slammed his milk glass down, again soaking the table. “Because if I can’t do it, he can’t do it!”

“No, it does not mean without pants, Alexander.” Jen snorted and grabbed Alex’s glass away from him, throwing a stack of napkins at him in the process. “It means outside.”

“And what it really means,” Jack said, reaching behind him to grab his bag off the floor and rifle through it, “is that he’s with Madeline.”

“How long is that going to go on?” Alex mumbled, his mouth full of pancakes.

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t. I’m just curious.”

“Well, at least he’s happy,” Jen said matter-of-factly as Josh and Liam sat down at their table. “It’s about time, boys!”

“Who’s happy?” Liam planted a kiss on Jen’s cheek, surreptitiously reaching over to snatch an uneaten pancake off her plate.

“Everyone but Jack,” Jen said, smirking across the table at him. He stuck his tongue out at her, stabbing a pork sausage with his fork viciously.

“Dude, just ask her.” Josh’s mouth was already full. “So we can stop hearing about it.”

“Who are you going to ask?” Jack retorted, rolling his eyes.

Josh shrugged, swallowing. “I don’t know, I was thinking maybe the new girl? You know… Madeline’s sister.”

Alex choked, spewing the table with chewed up pancake, and everybody jumped back, thoroughly disgusted and throwing napkins, spoons, and syrup packets in his direction. “Can you not please?”

“Isabelle?” He looked at Josh incredulously.

“Yeah…” Josh eyed him warily. “She’s cute and she seems really nice and also I really don’t want to go to Homecoming alone again, so…”

Alex stood up, throwing his half-eaten breakfast into the nearest garbage.

“Where are you going?” Jen looked concerned.

“Not hungry,” he muttered, before stomping off.

The rest of his friends looked around confusedly at each other. “What the hell was that about?” Jen asked Liam. He just shrugged.

“The bigger question is who walks out on pancake day?”

**IsabelleFuhrman: So it looks like you win.**

**AlexanderLudwig: ?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Guess I’ll be coming to your game tonight.**

**AlexanderLudwig: YES. You be my good luck charm, I’ll be yours.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: I’m gonna need it.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Shut up, that’s not true and you know it.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Alex?**

**AlexanderLudwig: That’s my name, don’t wear it out.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Thanks. Seriously.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Anytime, Scrapz :)**

Nothing could compare to the lights on Friday night, at least not to Alex. Add in the fact that it was the first game of the season and he was the starting quarterback, and it got even better. Having Isabelle here was just the cherry on top.

Not that Alex cared. He really didn’t.

Really.

Okay, so maybe he did. Maybe it was all he had been thinking about. But if it made him play better, who cared?

Actually, he could think of quite a few people who might care. Leven and Mack for one, although they didn’t really have one leg to stand on between the two of them since he knew he wasn’t the only one they were messing around with. Jackie, who had grown a little more vicious towards him ever since she had taken Isabelle under her wing. Mark, for breaking up the wolf pack (or maybe not anymore, because something was going on him with him and Madeline, and Alex was determined to find out what it was). Which left only Maddie, who would probably castrate him if she ever found out what his real feelings for her baby sister were.

So he just wouldn’t let them find out.

Yet.

But he couldn’t think about that now. He couldn’t think about the hundreds of screaming people waiting in the stands for the Eagles to run onto the field. It was his team to lead and his game to lose at this point – they had won the state championship last year, and they were heavy favorites this season.

No pressure or anything.

The guys were all staring at him expectedly as he stood up to take his place at the front of the locker room. He knew he was probably supposed to say something profound as captain, something that would inspire them to go out and play their best, but nothing was coming to mind. And that was a little nerve-wracking for Alex because in the town of Odessa, football wasn’t just a sport the high school boys played on Friday nights.

It was a religion.

Delaware didn’t have much. They didn’t have an NFL team or hockey or basketball. They didn’t have any good college teams. But they did have Dalton, who had been the state football champions the last four years running. It wasn’t just students and faculty in the stands – it was the entire town, plus some. Alex’s family was here all the way from Vancouver.

“Okay.” Alex cleared his throat. The entire locker room quieted down – all eyes were on him. “This is our night. And this is our house. We’re not gonna let them come in here and take it.”

“Hell no!” Mark yelled out from the back of the room, banging his helmet on a locker.

Alex smirked. “Let’s kick some ass, boys!”

The entire locker room erupted into cheers and shouts and the kind of noise that only forty high school boys could ever make. The lights blinded them as soon as they hit the field, running out of the tunnel to the roars of the crowd, but that didn’t stop Alex from trying to scan the field for Isabelle as he jogged to the sidelines to warm up.

Game on.

**JackQuaid: Isabelle, it’s Jack. Is Jackie with you?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Oh, hey. Yeah, we’re both here. Why, what’s up?**

**JackQuaid: Just making sure.**

“What’s wrong with y’all?” Alex was spitting mad, and he made sure everybody knew it. It was halftime, Dalton was down fourteen to nothing, and the energy was crackling through the locker room. Alex had the entire offensive line spread out in front of him, with the defense around the corner, being hollered at by their defensive coordinator. Coach Williams, Dalton’s head football coach was in the middle of a lecture with the special teams, and so it fell to Alex to try to whip his team into shape, not an easy feat as he only had twenty minutes to do it.

“What is wrong with y’all?” he repeated, pacing back and forth in front of the lockers. “Y’all are playin’ like some little girls! Y’all are acting like you’ve never played a down of football before! These guys are nothing!” He gestured in the direction of the field, indicating the Hoover Tigers who were kicking their ass on basically every level. It had been one of the dirtiest games Alex had ever seen, with holding and late hits and punches almost being thrown when the refs weren’t looking. “They bleed just like we do, they sweat just like we do, they went through two-a-days in one hundred degree heat just like we did!”

Mark spoke up. “Alex, we—”

He didn’t even give him a chance to speak. “I want you to hit everything that moves!” Alex smashed his helmet against the bench for emphasis. “If the ref gets in your way, then hit him! They’re cheating too! This is our team! This is us! We need to get off our asses and fucking move!”

“Use your minds!” He heard Coach Williams shouting around the corner. “Use your minds and play with your hearts, and that’s how you’re gonna win this game! That’s how you’re going to win the state championship! You hear?”

Mark put his head down, spitting blood onto the floor between his cleats. The entire team had the hell beaten out of them, and they were only two quarters in. Mark had blood streaking down one side of his face, the result of a huge hit by one of Hoover’s huge defensive lineman. Alex could feel his ribs screaming out in pain every time he took a breath, and his right shoulder felt almost torn out of its socket. Dayo, who was Alex’s left tackle, was nursing his knee, a bag of ice strapped to it in the hopes that he would be ready to play by the start of the third.

All in all, it was pretty depressing.

Out in the stands, however, it was a whole other story. Dalton had a lot of faith in their football team, especially after last season when they came from behind in almost every single game. Plus, it was getting close to Homecoming, only a few weeks away, and that was pretty much the only thing people were talking about.

As soon as the cheerleaders flipped their way off the field, all the lights went out, drenching the stadium in utter blackness. Everyone started to panic a little, voices getting louder and a few people shrieking, just to be annoying. But when the spotlight hit the field, illuminating a lone figure, everyone went a little wild.

“Oh my God!” Jackie gripped Isabelle’s arm, craning to see around the people in front of her. They were sitting with Amandla and Willow, who Isabelle had introduced Jackie to that week, and the four of them had hit it off. They were close to the front, only a few rows away from the field, but it was still hard to figure out what was happening, until… “Oh my God, is that JACK?!”

And yes, it was. Isabelle bit her lap, trying not to burst out laughing. So that’s what Jack’s cryptic text had been all about.

“Jackie?” Jack’s voice was magnified as he cleared his throat into the microphone and scanned the stands nervously. “Jackie, are you there?”

She didn’t say anything. Her eyes were wide, and she was clutching her oversized green sweater around her, but it looked like she was frozen.

“Jackie?”

“She’s here!” Isabelle answered for her. Amandla and Willow were audibly snickering.

“Jackie, could you come down here please?” Jack looked so nervous, the poor thing, standing on the big eagle head painted on the fifty-yard line. He was shifting from foot to foot and clutching the microphone like it was his life line.

“Jackie, you have to go down there!” Isabelle hissed. By this point, all eyes were turned in their direction, and Isabelle could heard Leven or Mackenzie whoop from a few rows back. She pushed Jackie gently towards the stairs, leaving her no choice but to comply.

It only took a few seconds for her to step onto the field, making her way out to where Jack was standing.

“What the hell, Jack?”

He ignored her, getting down on one knee.

“Jack, oh my God—”

“Jacqueline Emerson.” He smiled up at her, pulling a single rose out from behind his back. “Will you please go to Homecoming with me?”

The entire stadium burst out into awwwws and say yeses and get it, Quaids. Jackie looked up at Isabelle, her eyes wide and a little panicked. Isabelle nodded furiously, a huge grin spread across her face as she tried to psychically will Jackie to say yes.

Jackie looked back down at Jack. There was a long pause before her face finally split into a big smile. “Yes, I would love to go to Homecoming with you.”

Cheers filled the stadium as Jack stood up and hugged Jackie, picking her up off her feet and swinging her around. Isabelle clapped with everyone else, pinching Jackie in the side as soon as her roommate made her way back into the stands, face bright red and the rose tucked into her pocket.

“You’re going to Homecoming!”

Jackie couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m going to Homecoming!”

**AlexanderLudwig: What the hell, we can hear people chanting your name from inside the locker room!**

**JackQuaid: People love me.**

**JackQuaid: Now get your ass in gear and win us some football.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Really? Cause I was thinking I might try to lose this one….**

**JackQuaid: Shut up. Clear eyes, full hearts.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Can’t lose!**

Thirty-five minutes later, the entirety of Odessa, Delaware was storming the field, Isabelle included. Dalton had put up fourteen points in the third quarter, tacking on another three after a miraculous fifty-yard field goal. Hoover had come back with seven in the fourth, and in the last second of play, Alex threw a Hail Mary pass, connecting with Mark in the end zone to put up a final score of twenty-three to twenty-one. It was a by-the-skin-of-their-teeth win, but it was a win, and Alex was the hero of the hour.

The field was completely packed with people – there was barely enough room to breathe, much less room, and Isabelle couldn’t see over the heads of everyone to even figure out where to go. Amandla and Willow were trailing behind her, sticking close in the crowd, but Jackie was long gone, running over to Dayo as soon as the floodgates opened.

Isabelle didn’t want to admit that she was looking for Alex, but… she was. Not that it mattered – he had just won the game, and there were hundreds of people looking for him. He had much better things to do than talk to her.

But apparently, he didn’t, because a few seconds later she was being lifted off her feet and spun around, almost hitting people in the process. “Hey!” Alex sounded happier than he ever had, and the big grin splitting his face proved that. He was dirty and disgusting, covered in grass stains and sweat and – was that blood? But Isabelle had never been happier to see him.

“Congratulations!” she said as he put her down, and he wrinkled his nose at her.

“You know, we only won because you’re here,” he teased. “You’re my good luck charm, remember?”

“Well, I guess that means I need to come to all your games then, huh?”

“Yeah, it looks that way.”

He slung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close, and she had to admit: she was really feeling this whole big-shouldered, football jersey thing – Alex looked good in white, that was for sure. “So what was going on during halftime?”

“Oh.” Isabelle rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Jack asked Jackie to Homecoming in front of… well, everyone. It was quite the show.”

Alex let out a peal of laughter. “Jack likes to do it big. Did she say yes?”

“Duh.” Isabelle rolled her eyes. “What planet have you been living on?”

“Well, what are your plans for… for then?”

“For Homecoming?”

“Yeah.”

Isabelle pulled back, looking him in the eye. “Are you asking me to Homecoming?”

"I mean… well, if you wanted to go… I don’t need to go, but maybe that’s your thing, and I…”

“Oh my God.” Isabelle giggled. “I’m just kidding.” Alex’s eyes widened, and she quickly backtracked. “I’m just not really into dances that much at all. Like really, at all. But maybe we could do something else that night? Or stop by the dance, and then… do something else?”

Alex ruffled her hair. “Yeah, Scrappy, I would like that.”

**Amazing play lifts Dalton Academy over Hoover High School in season opener.**

**Odessa, Delaware – Junior quarterback Alexander Ludwig came to the rescue in a tight game between Dalton and Hoover on Friday night. With the time running down and Hoover ahead by four, Ludwig threw a sixty-yard Hail Mary pass, caught by Mark Reardon in the end zone for six points.**

**“I’ve practiced them, obviously,” Ludwig said. “But I’ve never completed one in a game. But I saw the time and I saw Mark wide open, so I just went for it.”**

**It was Ludwig’s first game as starting quarterback, although he had been starting as a running back since he was a freshman. The Dalton Eagles are currently the defending champions, after they battled their way back from a twenty-one point deficit against the Spencer Hawks last fall.**

The after party was raging in The Circle, but Jackie and Isabelle weren’t there – Isabelle because she had a big meet tomorrow and Jackie because she was just too happy and didn’t want anything to spoil her good mood. The two of them were posted up in their room, recounting every single detail from the game and watching America’s Next Top Model.

“I cannot believe he asked you like that,” Isabelle said from her seat in the window sill where she was looking out onto the Common. It looked strange when it was so deserted like this, everyone deep in the woods. Normally there would be people everywhere, and it was weird to Isabelle that none of the teachers got suspicious.

“I can’t either.” Jackie buried her face under her blanket, blushing furiously. “Especially after what we’d been fighting about.

“Which was…?”

“Well, you know. He was acting like he didn’t want to tell anyone about us, and then he basically told…”

“Everyone.”

“Yeah.” Isabelle could hear the grin in Jackie’s voice. “Is it bad that I’m so excited?”

“Hell no! I would be too if I was you.”

There was a long pause, and Isabelle wasn’t entirely sure that Jackie hadn’t fallen asleep until she said, “Are you sure you don’t want to come with? We could have like a big group, and it would be super fun…”

“Nah,” Isabelle said, resting her head against the cool glass of the window and smiling to herself as she remembered her conversation with Alex. “That’s okay. I’m good.”

**MarkReardon: Where did you go?**

**MadelineFuhrman: Home, I told you that.**

**MarkReardon: I thought you were kidding!**

**MadelineFuhrman: I’m just really tired. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, okay?**

**MarkReardon: Okay…**

**—**

**LevenRambin: Alex.**

**LevenRambin: Alex.**

**LevenRambin: Alex.**

**LevenRambin: Alex.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Oh my God, WHAT.**

**LevenRambin: I miss you.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Are you drunk?**

**LevenRambin: Might be.**

**LevenRambin: ALEX WHAT HAPPENED.**

**AlexanderLudwig: What?**

**LevenRambin: You used to like me you don’t like me anymore and idk what I did, what happened why don’t you want to be with me anymore**

**AlexanderLudwig: Night, Lev. Get home safe.**

**—**

**AlexanderLudwig: Night, Scrappy. See you tomorrow ;)**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Sweet dreams.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Always.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madeline discusses dresses with the girls, Mark can't keep his mouth shut, and Alex takes Isabelle to his secret spot on Homecoming night.

All anybody could talk about was Homecoming, and it was starting to annoy the hell out of Alex.

Jackie was going with Jack, Jen was going with Liam (obviously), Mackenzie and Leven were going with Dayo and Josh, and Madeline (surprisingly) was going with Mark. And Isabelle was kind of going with Alex.

Kind of.

They hadn’t really talked about it since the game on Friday night, since Isabelle had her swim meet on Saturday and Alex was right back to football practice on Sunday.

She had killed it during the swim meet, just like Alex told her she would. He sat in the stands with his friends, trying to hide how excited he was as he watched Isabelle swim her way to first in every single one of her events. And he had waited for her afterwards, given her a big hug when she walked out of the locker room, hair wet from her shower and still smelling faintly of chlorine. But she had gone straight back to her dorm because she was too exhausted to move, and Alex had ended up smoking a joint behind the banquet hall with Mark before marathoning Prison Break until two in the morning.

And somehow, he hadn’t really seen Isabelle all week, what with the fact that both of them had class then practice every day and the stadium was even more packed than usual for the Homecoming game on Friday night.

So he was more than surprised when he heard a light tapping on his window early Saturday morning, and he rolled over (thank God he was closest to the window and Mark was the world’s heaviest sleeper) to see Isabelle standing there, looking way too chipper for seven in the morning.

Alex got up quietly, trying to avoid the creaky spots on the wood floor as he slipped over to the window to push it open. “Hey,” he whispered, leaning his elbows on the windowsill. “Whatcha doing?” Like it was a totally normal thing for her to be standing there.

“Not much,” she shrugged, her ponytail swinging. “I just wanted to see what we’re doing tonight.”

Alex bit back a grin. “You could’ve just texted me.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I know you put your phone on that stupid Do Not Disturb mode when you sleep. And Jackie’s already up and she’s driving me crazy trying to figure out what I’m doing tonight.”

“Well, what do you want to do?”

“Oh, please, I am not playing that game.”

Alex grinned. “Okay. Then be ready to go to dinner at seven.”

“How exactly did us hanging out turn into us going to Homecoming?”

“If it makes you feel any better, we’re not really going to Homecoming. It’s just a stop along the way.”

“Along the way to what?” She glanced behind her, checking to see if there was anyone up this early that might spot her standing suspiciously outside the star quarterback’s window.

"Well, it’s a surprise, Scrappy. You’ll just have to see.” He was unsuccessful in hiding his yawn, and Isabelle noticed.

“Okay. I’ll be ready.” She took a step back. “Now go back to sleep.”

“See you tonight, Scrappy!” he called after her as she turned to leave, leaning out the window and watching her scurry back to her dorm.

Alex was still leaning on the window frame as she pushed back through the doors of Hayden, and he was about to pull back and close the window when he heard Mark’s voice behind him.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Ow, shit!” Alex rubbed the top of his head where he had slammed it on the bottom of the window, jumping at the sound of his roommate’s voice. “Why are you awake?”

“Why are you hanging out the window at seven o’clock in the damn morning?”

“Uh…” Alex swallowed, looking back out the window to the now-empty Common and closing it behind him before he crawled back into bed, still massaging his head. “No reason.”

Mark rolled his eyes, rolling over and pulling a pillow over his head. “Freak.”

Even as he started drifting back to sleep, he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over his face.

**From: Dean Shields**

**To: AllStudents**

**Msg: First of all, congratulations to the Eagles for winning the Homecoming game last night! And second of all, I would like to extend a few reminders to you all as the Homecoming dance is tonight: ABSOLUTELY no drinking – if any of the staff sees you drinking at the dance or suspects any intoxication, you will be removed and given detention. If you are going off campus for dinner, please remember that the campus gates close at nine p.m., whether you are on the right side or not. And as usual, NO boys allowed in the girls’ dorms and vice versa. Have fun and BE SAFE!**

“Madeline.”

“Madeline.”

“MADELINE!”

“Oh my God, what?” Madeline was trying to be a good best friend – she really was. But she was so sick to her stomach that she could barely sit up, much less watch her best friends try on six million dresses because they had majorly procrastinated on what they were going to wear to Homecoming.

“Do you think the red or the pink?”

She looked at the two of them standing next to each other, smiling at her expectantly, and a wave of guilt hit her – what with having Isabelle here and dancing around this whole Mark thing, not to mention studying and field hockey, she wasn’t being the greatest friend as of late.

“Ew, neither.” She wrinkled her nose, clutching her stomach and standing up to circle her friends. “You two look like Valentine’s Day hooked up with Pepto Bismol and had the world’s ugliest baby.”

"Jesus, Maddie,” Mackenzie said, pouting at her.

“Sorry, I am cranky today.” Madeline shook her head, scrutinizing the choices. “Mack, I think you should go with the white one, and Leven…” She sifted through the piles of formal wear strewn across the floor. “Leven, you should wear this one.” She held up the gorgeous green dress that Lev had bought for St. Patrick’s Day last year and hadn’t ever worn because she’d gotten too drunk to even leave the dorm room.

Leven snatched it from her, grinning her thanks. “You’re a genius, Maddie.”

“Oh, I know.” She hobbled back to her bed, stretching down on it gingerly and reaching for her ginger ale.

“What are you going to wear?”

“Hell if I know,” Madeline replied, waving off Mackenzie’s question. “Maybe I’ll be too sick to go.”

"No, I need you there!” Mackenzie’s pout grew even bigger. “I mean, I know you’re like too cool for us, now that you’re not single anymore, but—”

“Mack!” Madeline sat up quickly, regretting it instantly as her stomach screamed out in protest. “I am still single! Mark and I are not together, for the last freakin’ time.”

“Maddie and Mark,” Leven said dreamily, spinning around and watching the green dress puff out around her knees. “Mark and Maddie. You guys would have the cutest kids.”

She was cut off as Madeline chucked a pillow at her head, knocking her off balance so she had to throw a hand out against the wall to keep from falling. “God, sorr-yyy. You are hella cranky, you know that?”

“I just don’t want anyone getting any wrong ideas.”

"Why would it be so bad to be with Mark? I mean, you’re having sex, so you’re like halfway there, I don’t get it.”

"I just…” Madeline closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “He’s Mark. He’s such a perv.”

“Honey, he’s not.” Leven leaned close to the mirror, examining a non-existent spot with a slight look of horror on her face. God forbid Leven break out even a little – Madeline was convinced she would take a sick day if one spot ever showed up on her face. “He’s not Alex.” The words slipped out of her mouth before she remembered who she was in the company of, but thankfully the awkward tension was quickly split by Jen rushing in the doorway, her long gold dress slung over her shoulder.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, I know I’m late and I suck.”

And from then on, no one talked about Mark or Alex or anything. It was girl time, and there were No Boys Allowed – just like it had always been.

**IanNelson: Hey. Are you going to the dance tonight?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: I’m not sure yet actually. Are you?**

**IanNelson: I was thinking about it.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Well maybe I’ll see you there!**

**IanNelson: Yeah, maybe.**

**—**

**JackQuaid: ISABELLE. Alexander fucking Ludwig, are you KIDDING ME?**

**AlexanderLudwig: The hell you talking about, Quaid?**

**DayoOkeniyi: He’s talking about the fact that you are totally hooking up with Little Fuhrman and you didn’t even tell us!**

**AlexanderLudwig: I am not!**

**AlexanderLudwig: MARCUS WHAT DID YOU DO.**

**MarkReardon: It slipped out, I’m sorry!**

**DayoOkeniyi: You are in serious violation of the bro code right now, and even worse you are in serious violation of Wolf Pack code and you so owe us.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Calm your tits, Okeniyi. I’ll buy you a beer or something.**

**JackQuaid: You’d better buy us twelve.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Each.**

“You just had to go and tell them!”

“I can’t believe they didn’t know.” Mark frowned at Alex, knocking his hand out of the way to reach over him for the fried chicken. “You really didn’t tell them?”

“What do you think?”

Fried chicken was always served family style, probably so Dalton wouldn’t have to waste manpower on servers, so Alex and Mark were sitting at their usual table. What was not usual was the fact that they were sitting alone – Jack and Dayo were boycotting Alex at the moment, and Alex would be boycotting Mark if not for the fact that Mark was really the only one who wasn’t pissed at him, other than Isabelle (who wasn’t here, Alex noticed).

Mark was picking through the platter of chicken on the table, completely ignoring the bread rolls and the corn on the cob, until Alex realized what he was doing and slapped his hand. “Is it necessary for you to touch every piece? That is disgusting, who knows where your hands have been.”

“Can you please get laid? You are driving me insane. And what’s the point of spending all this time with Isabelle if it’s not… you know.”

Alex straightened up, narrowing his eyes at Mark and staring at him. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know – it’s just not like you to hang out with a girl and… you know. Just hang out with her.”

Alex cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “I… well, I – I really like her.”

The smirk spreading across Mark’s face only served to make Alex even testier. “It was really hard for you to say that, wasn’t it?”

Alex punched Mark lightly in the arm, secretly (really secretly – like deep down in the bottom of his heart where no one could ever find it) glad that his best friend knew him well enough to make him feel comfortable enough to talk about something that really embarrassed the shit out of him.

"She’s different. And it’s not just because she’s new or anything – she’s just… not like any of the girls around here.”

“How?” Mark took a big bite out of his first piece of fried chicken, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

“She didn’t like me,” Alex blurted out before he could think about what he was saying, and Mark burst out laughing, spraying the table with chewed up chicken.

“You mean, not like all the other girls around here, who fall for you the second they see you.”

“No.” Alex shot an annoyed look in his direction. “I mean… she took some convincing. She’s really quiet and smart and she just – she really thinks about everything. And she sees me for, like, who I really am – not just a football player or some huge asshole.”

“God, you are so gone.” Mark reached for another piece of chicken.

Alex was about to open his mouth and say something scathing about how much time Mark was spending with Madeline, but he didn’t get the chance to because at that second Jack and Dayo plopped down at their table.

“So we decided,” Jack said, clearing his throat and reaching immediately for the food, loading up his plate, “that we forgive you.”

"Really."

“Well, I didn’t tell you about Jackie, you just kind of found out, and Dayo didn’t tell you about Maddie or Jade, and—”

“Maddie? Dayo didn’t tell you about Maddie?” Mark had a murderous look in his eyes, his attention finally torn away from the food, and Dayo quickly jumped to his own defense.

“Last year for like a second, Marcus, relax.”

“This school is so incestuous, it makes me sick sometimes.”

“Whoa, who’s incestuous?” Josh appeared at the table, Liam trailing behind him, eyes glued to his phone.

“Everyone.”

“Okay, that makes sense.”

Because they were guys and because they were all close friends, all of the tension quickly disappeared as they dug into their lunch. The cafeteria was surprisingly short on estrogen because, Alex assumed, all the girls were getting ready for tonight.

It only took a few minutes for the conversation to flip back around and bite Alex in the ass again. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but somebody brought up Isabelle and then somebody else was mentioning how much time Alex was spending with her, and because Josh and Liam weren’t totally dense, they quickly figured it out.

“Isabelle?” Josh’s eyes were wide, a drumstick hovering between his mouth and his plate, his hand frozen in midair. “You and Isabelle?”

“It is only the third week of school, mate,” Liam mumbled. “How did that even happen?”

“He’s a charmer.” Mark winked at him.

“Do not wink at me, Reardon. That’s really not cool. And the real miracle is how you landed Madeline. The entire school knows how she is.”

“How she is?”

“Relax, you know what he means,” Josh said, jumping to Alex’s defense. “She just doesn’t really… date. Anyone. Ever.”

“Just while we’re on the subject…” Liam leaned in, clearing his throat and checking over his shoulder, presumably for his girlfriend or any of her friends. “How did you do it?”

Mark rolled his eyes, standing up and zipping up his sweatshirt. “You guys suck.”

“Oh, Marcus!” Alex called after him as they all burst into a fit of laughter, watching Mark stalk away. “Marcus, come back!”

"We didn’t mean it!”

“Mark, don’t be such a baby.”

He pushed through the front doors of the cafeteria, letting them know he wasn’t really mad – just fed up with their shit.

“No worries,” Alex said, turning back to the food spread out in front of them. “He’ll get over it in about an hour.”

**MadelineFuhrman: Where did you guys go? I fell asleep for like ten minutes and you were gone.**

**LevenRambin: You were asleep for two hours, Mads…**

**MackenzieLintz: Went to C-Store, we are starving! Need anything?**

**MadelineFuhrman: More ginger ale please.**

**LevenRambin: Be back soon xx**

**—**

**JacquelineEmerson: WAIT I forgot to say squeeze cheese…like the cheese that comes in a can and you spray it out. Maybe it’s called spray cheese? That sounds weird…**

**IsabelleFuhrman: So let me get this straight… You want a Hershey’s bar, Diet Mountain Dew, Goldfish crackers, mini pizzas, Pop Tarts, and squeeze slash spray cheese…**

**JacquelineEmerson: That is correct.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Are you pregnant???**

**JacquelineEmerson: HA HA HA, you’re so funny I forgot how to laugh…**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Just kidding!**

“What do you think is wrong with her?”

“I don’t think anything is wrong, honestly,” Mackenzie said, examining the candy aisle in the tiny convenience store located next to the cafeteria in the student lounge. “I just think she’s freaking out about this Mark thing.”

Leven looked at her, eyes wide. “So you think she’s faking?”

“No.” Mackenzie picked up a 100 Grand bar, tossing it in the basket Leven was holding. “I think she just worried about it so much she made herself sick.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

Leven was picking through the apples when Mackenzie spotted Madeline’s sister walking through the doors of the store, looking at her phone. “Hey,” Mackenzie hissed, elbowing Leven in the side and instinctively ducking behind one of the soda coolers.

“Ow, what?” Leven raised her voice in annoyance as Mackenzie grabbed her arm and pulled her into hiding. Mackenzie elbowed her again, shushing her quickly.

“Look!”

“Look at what?”

“It’s Madeline’s sister.”

Leven dropped into a crouch beside Mackenzie. “Why are we hiding?”

“I don’t know, it was a reflex!”

“Well, this is stupid. I’m getting up.”

“Leven, wait!”

But when Leven made up her mind to do something, that was that – she just did it and there was no one who could stop her. “Isabelle!” She whipped around at the sound of her name, but Mackenzie could have sworn she saw Isabelle roll her eyes when she saw it was Leven, and Mackenzie quickly scurried to her best friend’s side.

“Are you going to Homecoming?” Leven was asking Isabelle as Mackenzie appeared next to her. She was kind of surprised that Isabelle didn’t look the slightest bit intimidated – not that Mack and Leven were that intimidating, but certain people at this school thought they were.

“Uh…” Isabelle cleared her throat, looking between Mackenzie and Leven. Yeah, kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“Well, yeah.”

“With Alex.” Mackenzie raised an eyebrow – it wasn’t a question.

Isabelle narrowed her eyes noticeably. “Does it matter?”

“No,” Leven said breezily, and Mackenzie quickly wondered when Leven had turned into the nicer one of the two of them. “Not to us, anyways. Although it might to your sister.”

Isabelle let out a huge sigh, turning around to grab a basket from the stack by the door. “I really don’t care what Madeline thinks, to be honest.”

Mackenzie and Leven exchanged a look, and when they didn’t say anything, Isabelle looked back at them. “Do you need anything else?”

Mack snorted, dragging Leven away to pay for their food and get the hell out of there. “Bye!” Leven called out sweetly over her shoulder as she was pulled away.

"Lev, what are you doing?”

“Friends close, enemies closer!”

"Let’s just get back to Madeline.”

To put things lightly, Madeline was not happy when Leven and Mack relayed what happened to her.

“I can’t believe her.” Madeline opened a new can of ginger ale with a hiss.

“Mads…” Jen was lying on Madeline’s bed next to her, having stayed behind to watch Top Chef while Mackenzie and Leven went to get food. “Don’t get mad at me for asking this… But why do you care so much? I mean, you’ve got Mark and you’ve got us. Who really cares about her?”

“I don’t know.” Madeline sighed, sounding scary-similar to the way Isabelle had sighed when Mack and Leven were talking to her in the c-store. “I just… this is the first place I’ve really fit in. And having her here… well, it feels like it might change that.”

"Nothing’s gonna change, Madeline.” Mackenzie put her hand on Leven’s knee. “Nothing is going to change.”

**ElinaFuhrman: Have fun tonight! Love you xx**

**MadelineFuhrman: I’ll try. Love you too, say hi to dad.**

**ElinaFuhrman: Will do. And take care of your sister!**

**MadelineFuhrman: Yeah.**

**—**

**AlexanderLudwig: You about ready?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: You could say that.**

**AlexanderLudwig: You excited?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Maybe a little more than I let on at first.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Me too :)**

“Did I tell you that you look great?”

“Maybe a couple times. You do too.”

Alex and Isabelle were walking up the drive from the front gate to the banquet hall. Isabelle had her shoes in her hand, while her other hand was firmly caught in Alex’s – although she wasn’t really sure how that had happened.

The two of them had left Jack and Jackie right after dinner, choosing to walk around the few streets there were of downtown Odessa before heading back to campus. They made it just in time, one of the security guards getting ready to shut the gate just as they were slipping back inside.

"You sure you wanna go to this?” Alex asked as they approached the banquet hall.

Isabelle shrugged. “I’m game if you are.”

“Because we don’t have to, you know, I’ve got other stuff we can do—”

“Alex.” She smiled up at him. “I’m sure.”

They stopped at the big, glass front doors to the hall, and Alex waited for Isabelle to put her shoes back on before opening the door for her, guiding her in with his hand on the small of her back.

The ballroom was huge and high-ceilinged, and looked almost like an observatory with its big glass dome reflecting back the lights of the room and the stars up above them. There were people everywhere – sitting at tables, dancing, getting food, and gathered around the perimeter of the room.

Isabelle immediately spotted Jack and Jackie on the dance floor – her head was tipped back as she laughed and her long red hair was spilling down her back, looking happier than she had since school started. Jack was leaning in close to whisper in her ear, his arms wrapped around her.

Madeline was at a table with Mackenzie, Leven, and Jen, the four of them with their heads close together, whispering to each other. Mark had his arm stretched across the back of Madeline’s chair, and was gesturing animatedly to Dayo.

Amandla and Willow weren’t there, Isabelle didn’t think, and neither was Ian.

The night was uneventful, at least for a while. Jackie spotted Alex and Isabelle right away, rushing over and pulling Jack along with her. But it wasn’t until Isabelle went to get some more soda that things got a little weird.

She was just pushing the button on the dispenser to fill up her cup when someone bumped her arm, sending droplets of liquid spraying over her hand and onto the table.

“Oh, shit.” It was Madeline. “Sorry, Is, I didn’t… I didn’t see you there.” She didn’t sound like she had meant to do it on purpose, Isabelle thought. In fact, she sounded a little nervous, and Isabelle realized how long it had been since she and her sister had actually had a proper conversation.

“Trying to run me off the road, Mads?”

“No, sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”

“So if you had, you would have hit me harder?”

Madeline smiled nervously, clearing her throat. “Well I think you’ve proven that you can handle it.”

There was an awkward silence, stretching on for what felt like minutes before the two of them spoke at the same time.

“Ah, I—”

“So what—”

“Go ahead,” Isabelle said.

“You’re here with Alex,” Madeline said matter-of-factly, and Isabelle nodded. “Good, that’s good.”

“Is it really?”

“Is, look.” Madeline pulled her away from the soda machine, over to the side of the room. “I don’t know when this war between us started, and I don’t know why… but I’m tired of it.”

“You’re tired of it? You’re the one who attacked me!”

“And I’m sorry, I really am. I just… I want this to end.”

Isabelle was silent for a while, setting her cup down on the ledge of the windowsill and sponging her hand off with a napkin. “I mean… yeah” was her ever-so-eloquent response. Nice, Isabelle.

"Yeah?”

“Yeah, I want it to be over too.” 

Madeline smiled, and Isabelle was struck by how pretty she was – her sister had always been pretty, but she had grown up after she moved away. And before Isabelle knew it, Maddie was hugging her, something the two of them hadn’t done since Isabelle was maybe eight years old.

“Friends?”

Isabelle smiled. “Yeah. Friends.”

**JacquelineEmerson: Are you coming back to the room tonight?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Of course.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Fill me in when you get back???**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Of course :)**

**JacquelineEmerson: I’ll be waiting!**

“Alex, where are we going?”

"Just a little further.” His hands were warm on Isabelle’s shoulders. “Careful! Okay, now just step over this log – okay, almost there. Careful, Is! God,” he said, catching her before she tripped over the log he had told her to watch out for. To be fair, walking in the woods was a whole lot harder when you had a blindfold on, so Isabelle didn’t feel too bad. “Okay, and we’re here.”

Isabelle pushed the blindfold (also known as Alex’s tie) up over her head. They were pretty deep in the woods behind the Dalton campus, even further out than The Circle, but it was definitely worth the trip because they were standing at the edge of a tiny, little lake (more of a pond really, but it wasn’t nasty like ponds usually were). There were willows lining the edge of it like pearls, their leaves brushing the tops of the water, and the whole thing smelled like lavender and fresh grass.

“Oh my God, Alex what is this?”

“Isn’t it great?” Alex was beaming, and he pulled Isabelle over to the edge of the water, plopping down on the grass and rolling his pants up to his knees. She followed suit, easing her legs into the water. “My dad told me about it the summer before I started here, and I came out and found it my first week.”

“It is, it’s really great.”

Isabelle tilted her head back, looking at the big stretch of sky above them.

“So what do you want, Isabelle?”

“What do I want?”

“Like out of life. When you leave here.”

Isabelle looked at Alex, the moonlight hitting the side of his face and making his hair look like it was glowing. “I… I don’t know. I guess I’m not sure. Maybe I wanna write or teach or something. I just want to make sure I do… something.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“People are so caught up in their tiny, little lives, and I don’t want to be that way anymore. And I want somebody to pick me, you know? Growing up with Madeline was… well, she was the perfect child, and everybody loved her, and then I would come along after, and all I heard was why aren’t you more like Madeline?”

There was a short silence, and Isabelle was suddenly worried that she had said too much, that Alex would think she was whining or irritating.

“I’d pick you, Is,” he said softly. “I’d pick you any day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

And when he kissed her, it felt like this was where she was supposed to belong – it didn’t matter that she was so far away from home or that she felt so trapped in her tiny, little life. She was right here, and it was so much better than anything she could have imagined.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie tries to stage an intervention, Mark and Alex discuss their love lives, the football team has an exciting announcement, and Madeline reveals a big secret to her friends.

All of a sudden, without even realizing how it really happened, Isabelle became the first person Alex texted when he woke up and the last person he talked to before he went to sleep.

It had been an interesting few weeks since Homecoming, to say the least.

In the three years Alex had been at Dalton, nothing had really changed. Madeline, Jen, Mackenzie, and Leven had always been thick as thieves. They had plenty of other friends, but no one could penetrate their inner circle. The boys orbited around them, protecting them, keeping out outsiders, and constantly trying to date one or the other.

Their group of friends hadn’t changed in three years. Until Isabelle came along.

Now that Isabelle and Madeline were friends again (maybe for the first time ever – Alex was getting the feeling that they weren’t close when they were kids), they were together all the time. Madeline came as a package deal, Leven and Mackenzie and Jen always close behind, and Isabelle brought along Jackie, Amandla, and Willow. The eight of them almost instantly became inseparable.

Rumor had it that it took Leven and Mackenzie quite a while to warm up to Isabelle, although none of the boys knew that for sure.

What they did know was that it was almost impossible to talk to one of the girls on their own, making it incredibly difficult for Alex to really nail things down with Isabelle. And she didn’t seem too fussed by it.

Truth was, Alex really wanted to be with Isabelle. He was sure about it, which was not a normal thing for him. Isabelle, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine on her own. He hadn’t talked about it with her, but not for lack of trying – every time he brought up the possibility of them becoming “official,” she changed the subject.

So for now, he had to be content with whatever it was they were doing.

It was nearing Halloween, and the entire campus was drenched in autumn – the leaves were turning bright red and orange, floating down from the trees and coating the sidewalks in crisp blankets. The air had a bite to it, forcing the students to start dressing warmer in anticipation of the cold snap that was coming. Isabelle and Jackie both had extra blankets on their beds, matching ones that they had picked up in town, covered with brightly colored tribal patterns.

Alex was lying on his stomach on that comforter a few days before Halloween, fast asleep, his head pillowed on his Physics textbook. Isabelle was sitting with her back against the wall, legs draped over his back, watching Teen Mom. This was how they spent almost every evening together, Alex pretending to do his homework until he ended up falling asleep, exhausted from football.

Isabelle liked it. She was comfortable, although she could tell Alex wasn’t – she knew he had been restless for weeks, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it with him, and she wasn’t sure why. She was pretty sure it had something to do with Madeline and the fact that they were finally friends for the first time ever. And maybe it just had something to do with the fact that she was finally figuring out where she really fit in.

But she knew sooner or later they were going to have to talk about what had happened on Homecoming night. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want it to happen again – actually, she really wanted it to happen again, but with school and swimming and her friends there wasn’t really a lot of time to think about anything else.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to think about it yet.

Jackie came barreling in the door, slamming it behind her and throwing her stuff down on her bed. True to form, Alex didn’t even stir.

"What’s up?” Isabelle pointed the remote at the television, turning down the volume, muting the sound of Jenelle screaming at her boyfriend.

Jackie launched into a diatribe about her Chemistry test, soccer, and something about Jack. Isabelle had quickly learned to just let her vent – eventually she would run out of steam. But this time she didn’t have time to run out of steam because in the middle of her rant, the window creaked up on its hinges, and Jack and Dayo came tumbling through it.

“What the hell?” Isabelle squealed, jumping forward onto Alex as the cold air hit her back, and he jerked awake, sending both of them tumbling to the floor.

“Is it possible,” Jackie shrieked, hurling a pillow across the room, “for either of you to use the door like a normal person?”

Jack heaved it back. “Is it possible for you to check your phone ever? We were calling you for like ten minutes.”

Jackie made a face, pulling her phone out of the side of her backpack and switching it to loud. “That’s my bad.”

“Yeah it really is, Emerson.”

“What’s so important anyways?”

“You promised you would help me study for Physics!”

“I do not recall that.”

“JACKIE!”

“Oh my God.” Alex stood up, rubbing his elbow where he had smacked it on Isabelle’s nightstand. “Can you two just kiss or something? This whole sexual tension thing is driving me crazy.”

“Look who’s talking,” Dayo muttered.

“Do you wanna say that a little louder? Because—”

“Boys!” Isabelle smacked the flat of her hand down on her desk. She was about to deliver a scathing lecture, but she was cut off before she could even begin.

“I can hear you guys from across the circle,” Leven said as Jen hoisted her through the window, pulling Madeline along behind her. “What is the problem?”

Jack and Jackie started speaking at the same time, both of them raising their voices over the other’s words until Madeline yelled at them both to quiet down because she had a headache.

“What are we doing tonight?” Mackenzie asked from where she was sitting on Jackie’s bed, flipping through Isabelle’s latest copy of Vogue. “All we’ve done lately is sit around and watch TV.”

“What do you wanna do, Mack?”

Mackenzie just shrugged, pushing the magazine away from her and flipping over onto her back, kicking Dayo off the end of the bed in the process. “Just something not boring. We’ve been so boring since school started.”

“So what about, like, bowling?” Alex suggested.

“Are you serious?” Mackenzie shot him a look. “That’s what’s exciting to you?” Alex rolled his eyes at her, folding Isabelle’s pillow in half and settling it behind his neck.

“Well if you’re so picky, then you decide.”

“There’s nothing to do in this piece of shit town,” Madeline said, spinning around in Jackie’s desk chair.

“What the hell is up your butts today?”

“She’s just mad because Mark isn’t here.”

“Do not start with me, Okeniyi. I can play that game too.”

“Speaking of,” Isabelle said, cutting off her sister before she could start an even bigger argument, “Where is Mark anyways?”

“Don’t look at me,” Madeline said after a few seconds of silence. “I have no idea.”

“He’s at the gym,” Alex said, surreptitiously trying to pull Isabelle over to him. He was failing miserably – as soon as he reached for Isabelle, everyone turned to them, raising their eyebrows and clearing their throats. “What?”

“Nothing.” Madeline turned away from them, spinning Jackie’s desk chair around one more time before she got up and ran to the bathroom.

“What is with her?”

“I’m sick!” Madeline called, and Isabelle scrunched up her nose at the sound of her sister barfing into her toilet. “Just ignore me.”

“Close the door if you’re gonna ralph everywhere, Fuhrman. God, have some respect.”

“Okeniyi, I swear to God.”

The group ended up in town at the one not totally awful restaurant in town, which just so happened to have decent pizza most of the time, and Isabelle ended up sandwiched between Alex and Mackenzie in the booth, which was only a little awkward. Alex was gripping her knee underneath the table, and every so often he would squeeze a little, and she would glance over at him and smile just a little.

But at the end of the night, when Alex and Jack were walking Isabelle and Jackie back to their room, she slipped away before Alex could ask her if she was ready to talk like he did almost every night.

Because she wasn’t.

And this time, Jackie decided to do something about it.

**AlexanderLudwig: Sweet dreams, Little One.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: You too. Night doll xx**

**AlexanderLudwig: I’m going to keep waiting. Just so you know.**

**AlexanderLudwig: I’ll keep waiting until you decide you’re done with me.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: I’m not going to be done with you, Alex.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Good. Because I’m not leaving you.**

**—**

**MadelineFuhrman: I need to talk to you.**

**MarkReardon: What’s up, babe?**

**MarkReardon: Baby.**

**MarkReardon: Madeline?**

**MadelineFuhrman: Never mind, it’s okay.**

**MarkReardon: You sure?**

**MadelineFuhrman: Yeah**

**—**

**LevenRambin: Are you happy?**

**AlexanderLudwig: About what?**

**LevenRambin: Just…are you happy?**

**AlexanderLudwig: Yeah I’m happy.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Why?**

**LevenRambin: Just wondering.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Enough Lev.**

“Intervention!” Jackie said, tackling Isabelle onto her bed as soon as they got through the door of their room.

“Jackie, what the – what are you—”

Isabelle tried – unsuccessfully – to push Jackie off her, but Jackie just straightened up, sitting on Isabelle’s stomach. “Here’s the thing, Is.” She cleared her throat, ignoring Isabelle’s attempts to push her off. “I’ve known Alex since basically my first week here. I’ve seen him go through pretty much every girl here.”

“Is this supposed to be making me feel better? Because it’s not.”

“Quiet. You’re missing my point. I’ve seen him with girls. I’ve seen how he acts with them. He is in charge because he doesn’t care as much as the girl. And then you came along and you didn’t fall for him being all charming. And then he finally got you, or at least he thought he did, and you still haven’t completely fallen for him.”

“Can you get to the point please?”

“He really likes you, Isabelle.” Jackie’s voice was serious, something kind of unusual for her. “I’m not saying you have to date him or anything. I just think you should talk to him.”

“I will, I just…” Isabelle trailed off.

“What’s wrong, Is? Why won’t you talk to him?”

Jackie moved, her knee digging into Isabelle’s side as she rolled off her, letting her sit up. “Madeline and I have never been friends,” Isabelle explained. “And now we are, and it’s nice. It makes things a lot easier. But Leven is her best friend, and… I just don’t want to stir the pot.”

“That’s nice of you, but this isn’t about Madeline. Or Leven. It’s about you being happy. Leven will get over it.”

"You think?”

“She and Alex had the weirdest relationship. She dumped him first and then he dumped her and they never figured things out. They will never figure things out, whether you’re in the picture or not.”

Isabelle got up, walking over to the window and pulling the curtains closed. “I’m just not good at relationships. And we’re stuck here with these people for a couple more years, no matter what. So what if goes bad and we fight and break up and then we have to awkwardly avoid each other until he graduates?”

“Well. What if goes good?” Jackie asked simply.

At the same time, Alex and Mark were having a similar conversation across the dorm circle. Or as similar as it gets for two guys too busy playing Xbox to really pay attention to each other.

“Madeline said she wanted to talk to me earlier.”

“Why?” Alex crumpled up his empty can of Mountain Dew, tossing it behind him in the general direction of the trash.

“She didn’t say. And then she changed her mind.”

“Maybe she wants you to make it official.” Alex was joking, but he could tell it was bugging Mark.

“She really doesn’t want that.”

“Tell me about it. Maybe it’s just a Fuhrman thing.”

Mark laughed, pushing the chip bag over to his roommate. “Yeah, at least Madeline is willing to be alone in the same room as me. I bet you that I can lock things down with her before you can with Isabelle.”

“Are you seriously challenging me on this?” Alex smashed a few buttons on his controller, trying to swerve his car around Mark’s. “Because you know I would win in a second.”

“Yeah, probably.” Mark bit his lip, almost driving off the road. “You don’t think it’s weird? That we’re, you know, going after sisters.”

“No weirder than both of us hooking up with Lev.”

"Shut up.”

They were interrupted by the sound of the window by Alex’s bed being slid open, causing the boys to jump and crash their cars. Isabelle appeared in the open window, grinning at the fact that she had clearly scared the shit out of both of them. “Payback’s a bitch,” she said sweetly, resting her arms on the windowsill. “Can I, uh, talk to you?”

“Of course, darling,” Mark said, leaning back in his desk chair. Alex kicked it out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor.

“Not you, douche.”

Mark stood up, wincing slightly. “Okay, I’ll dip out.”

“Talk to her!” Alex called after his roommate as he slipped out the window, boosting Isabelle in and taking off across the circle. As Isabelle settled herself on Alex’s bed, he quickly darted around the room, throwing away all the garbage that had missed the trash can and pushing his dirty clothes under his bed.

Isabelle pulled Alex’s almost-finished Calculus homework toward her, absentmindedly erasing things and correcting it. Alex sat down next to her, touching Isabelle’s cheek lightly with his thumb. “What’s up, little one?”

Alex could tell she was nervous – she wasn’t meeting his gaze and she was bouncing her knee the way she always did when she was uncomfortable. But she took a deep breath, finally looking up at Alex. “I’m not good at this.”

“At…?”

“This.” Isabelle gestured to him. “Us. Relationships. Things like that.”

“I think you’re doing fine.” Alex slid his fingers down her arm, curling them in her own, trying to still her hand from where she was tapping his pencil against her shin. “Just tell me what’s up.”

“I do want to be with you,” Isabelle mumbled, so low Alex had to lean in to make sure he knew what she was saying. “I’m just not sure it’s the best idea.”

“Why?”

And Isabelle rattled off a number of reasons – she thought she should focus on school; she didn’t want to piss off her sister (or her sister’s friends); her last relationship didn’t end well; blah, blah, blah. Alex brushed off each of her concerns – he wasn’t going to get in the way of her studying, plus she was way smarter than anyone else in her year; Madeline loved her, and she wouldn’t get mad just because Isabelle was dating someone (and she really shouldn’t worry about Leven – Alex could handle that); this was different from Isabelle’s past relationships – Alex was different.

“I don’t want you to be scared, Isabelle.” Alex scooted forward, boxing Isabelle in between his legs and cupping his hands on either side of her neck. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I’m not scared of you,” she whispered. “I’m scared of me. I’m scared that I might mess it up.”

“Don’t be scared.” Alex buried his face in her neck, trying to lighten the mood. “If we do break up, I promise I’ll be the one to disappear. You can have the library and the caf and the gym.”

“Well then what do you get?” Isabelle smiled.

“The history hall?”

“Deal.” She pulled back, looking at him. “You really think we can do this?”

“I’m positive, little one.”

Isabelle took a deep breath, shutting her eyes for a second before crawling forward toward Alex, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

**Isabelle Fuhrman is in a relationship with Alexander Ludwig.**

**Jackie Emerson, Jack Quaid, Madeline Fuhrman, and 8 others like this.**

Leven was fine.

Really.

Okay, there was something weird going on with Madeline. Leven knew how she got when she was stressed out – she got so anxious she made herself sick. And no matter what Leven did to try to help her out of it, nothing worked. She just had to wait until Madeline realized everything was going to be fine, like it always was.

And yeah, this whole Alex and Isabelle thing was… less than ideal. But Leven also knew how things went with her and Alex – she got tired of him, only wanting him back when he decided he didn’t want her anymore. It was a sick twisted game, and frankly Alex was lucky he got out of it. But that didn’t mean Leven wanted to watch him and his new girlfriend fawn all over each other every second they could get.

For the first time since she had been at Dalton, Leven was alone. Madeline had Mark, Alex had Isabelle, Jack had Jackie, Jen had Liam, and Mackenzie… well, who ever really knew what was going on with Mackenzie?

Leven was sitting next to Dayo in Calculus, practically falling asleep. The warm air was blasting from the heater under the window and she could barely keep her eyes open. There had been a huge party in the woods the night before. The girls had been one of the first ones there and among the last to leave. Leven had spent most of her time sitting around the fire with Madeline and Mackenzie, trying to avoid Alex. She had drank a little more than she should have and ended up passing out on Jack and Dayo’s floor, waking up with a sore back and a killer headache.

Dayo kept nudging Leven, trying to keep her awake. Alex was on the other side of Dayo, not even trying to hide his yawns. He wouldn’t stop tapping his pencil on his paper, driving Leven completely insane. Eventually she reached across Dayo, grabbing it and putting it on the windowsill next to her.

“Cut it out,” she hissed as soon as Mr. Way turned around.

“What is your problem?” he hissed back.

“How are you not hungover even a little?”

“Special powers and lots of training.”

“Can you two shut up?” Dayo scribbled something out in his notebook, trying to hear over Leven and Alex whispering furiously on either side of him. “I am trying to learn!”

“Oh please, you skip this class at least twice a week.”

“Miss Rambin, Mister Okeniyi, Mister Ludwig!” Mr. Way cut them off, glaring at them. “Is there something you need to say?”

“No,” Leven smiled sweetly, desperately trying to rub the kink out of her temple, and thankfully he decided it was probably a losing battle and got back to droning on about derivatives.

Twenty minutes later they were free, all the juniors on their study hour. Alex, Dayo, and Leven pushed out the front door of the maths building, pulling their coats tighter around them against the biting cold air. They didn’t speak until they made it to the warm cafeteria, grabbing coffee and settling down at one of the big round tables by the windows.

“Dayo?” Leven crossed her legs, wrapping her hands around her warm cup. Before she could even finish her question, he cut her off.

“No, no, no! You promised me you would start taking your own notes!”

“Please?” She pouted at him, reaching across the table for his pile of Calculus notes. “I always share with you.”

“Absolutely not. Unless you help me with the Brit Lit paper.”

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes, grabbing his notes before he changed his mind. “Alex, do you need these?” He didn’t say anything, his eyes trained on his knees. “Alex!”

“Yeah?” He finally looked up, dropping his phone on the table with a clatter. Leven just rolled her eyes at him, scooting closer to share Dayo’s notes.

A few minutes later Jack came through the door with Mackenzie, loudly arguing with her about their Speech project. “I’m just saying,” Leven could hear him say across the cafeteria, “I am not talking any more than I have to!”

“So you want me to do the whole thing?”

“If we have a choice, yeah.”

Mark burst through the door, pushing between them and racing toward Leven’s table. Everyone in the cafeteria looked up as he tripped over a chair, just managing to catch himself before he sprawled to the ground. He slid up between Alex and Dayo, trying to catch his breath.

“We’re…” He leaned over the table, clutching his stomach. “We’re going to State!”

Alex and Dayo just stared at him. “What?”

“We’re going to State!”

By now everyone in the cafeteria was trying to listen in on their conversation. The football team had lost one game at the beginning of October, which put them out of the running for State. But in a surprising twist, not one Delaware high school team had gone defeated that year, and the race for State had come down to a three-way tie. The coin flip had been that morning, and apparently the Dalton coach had flipped right.

"We’re going to State?” Alex asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes!”

“Oh my God!” Alex jumped up, pulling Dayo and Mark into a little bro huddle. The entire cafeteria burst out cheering, the other football players rushing over. Madeline walked into the caf in the middle of the commotion, skirting her way through the people jumping around.

“What is going on?” she asked, sitting down between Leven and Mackenzie. Before either of the girls could get a word out, Mark started a chant of “State! State! State!” and Madeline rolled her eyes. “Oh. That.”

“You knew?”

“He ran screaming past me in the Common.”

“It’s exciting, isn’t it?”

Madeline didn’t answer, looking down at her hands. “Look, I’ve gotta run back to my room, but I needed to tell you guys something.”

“What’s up?” Madeline rested her head on her hand, elbow on the table.

“Not here.” Madeline looked around. “Meet me in the Circle tonight at ten, okay?”

Leven and Mackenzie exchanged a look. “Okay, Mads,” Leven answered, and Madeline was out the door before she could say anything else.

**IsabelleFuhrman: Did you get that weird text from Maddie?**

**JacquelineEmerson: Yeah, Amandla and Willow got it too. What’s going on?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Not a clue.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Guess we’ll find out.**

**—**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Congrats!**

**AlexanderLudwig: Thanks Little One! Wanna celebrate tonight?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Wish I could! But I can’t, I’m sorry.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Another boyfriend I don’t know about?**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Ha ha very funny. No I’ve just got a big test tomorrow and I’ve gotta spend the entire night studying.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Maybe I’ll stop by.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: You know I’ll get no work done if you do that.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Study hard! See you tomorrow.**

“Hold on,” Jackie hissed, peeking around the corner of the building. Isabelle slammed into her back, too busy looking at her phone to pay attention to what her roommate was doing. “Isabelle, can you get off that thing for five seconds?”

“I’m lying to Alex,” Isabelle hissed back. “And we’ve been together for all of a week!”

“Well, you’re going to have even less time to spend with him if we get detention for sneaking out after curfew.”

Isabelle took the hint, dropping her phone in the pocket of her oversized sweater and pulling her hood up over her head. “Fine. Lead the way.”

They picked up Amandla and Willow at the edge of the Common, just at the tree line of the woods. Isabelle assumed Jen, Leven, and Madeline had gotten the cryptic text from Madeline too (“Circle tonight, 10:00. Need to talk.”), but there was no sign of them. Although Jackie and Isabelle had been running really late, thanks to the fact that their RA was patrolling the first floor of the building like she always did every other night around ten.

Once they were far enough into the woods, Jackie pulled out her own phone, switching on the flashlight so the four girls could navigate over the tree roots sticking out of the ground and low-hanging branches. Amandla and Willow crept along behind them, gripping the back of Isabelle’s sweater. It was a little freaky.

They rounded a set of trees, running smack into Mackenzie and Jen, who both let out blood-curdling screams. “Oh my God!” Mackenzie smacked her hand over her heart, bending over and putting her other hand on her knees. “Make a noise or something, Jesus!”

Jackie was bent over laughing, the light from her phone dancing crazily over the blanket of leaves on the ground. “This is not fun!” Jen poked her in the side.

“Come on,” Willow said, looking around nervously. “Can we keep going? This is freaking me out.”

“That’s cause you’re a baby freshman, Wills,” Mackenzie said, straightening up and slipping her arms around Willow and Amandla, guiding them through the trees. “You get used to this.”

“We’re not all deviants, Mack,” Isabelle said, following along behind them. The edge of the Circle was just in sight, and they scurried towards it.

“Excuse me, Is, how many times have you sneaked out into the woods so far?”

“A few. But only because—”

“Exactly. You’re one of us.”

They entered the clearing to see Madeline sitting on one of the logs around the fire. She was wearing leggings and Uggs and one of Mark’s football jerseys, which she was practically swimming in. Isabelle didn’t know how her sister wasn’t freezing – she had four layers on and she could barely feel her fingers.

The girls silently seated themselves around Madeline, knowing they should wait for her to start talking before they said anything. She had her head on her knees, not looking up as they sat down. Isabelle glanced at Jackie, who looked at Mackenzie, who looked over at Jen, and all of them just shrugged or shook their heads.

Finally Madeline looked up, but she still didn’t say anything, just threading the hem of Mark’s jersey through her fingers.

“What’s going on, Madeline?” Isabelle asked, breaking the silence. It was pitch dark in the clearing, but as Isabelle spoke a cloud drifted away from the moon, bathing the Circle in bright white light. That was the first look they really got at Madeline’s face, and that was the first time they realized she was crying.

“Oh my God,” Mackenzie said, scooting closer. “Maddie, what’s going on?”

Madeline took three deep breaths, the way Mama Fuhrman had always taught them to do when they were scared or anxious. And the words that came out of her mouth next stopped Isabelle’s heart.

In fact, they would change all of their lives forever.

“I think…” Madeline hesitated, finally meeting her sister’s eyes. “I’m pregnant.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls buy a pregnancy test, everyone goes to the Halloween party, and Leven gets a little too drunk.

“I cannot believe that this is the path my life has taken.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean, Leven? What I mean is that it is midnight and I am standing on your shoulders sneaking out of boarding school to go get my teenage sister a pregnancy test.”

“Can we focus on the part where you’re standing on my shoulders and need to hurry the fuck up?”

After hearing Leven’s tone, Isabelle decided hurrying the fuck up might be a good idea and she scrambled over the huge brick ivy-covered wall surrounding Dalton’s perimeter as quickly as she could, joining Jackie on the other side after pulling Leven over after her. After making sure that no one had seen them leave and texting Mackenzie to assure her that they were going as quickly as humanly possible, the three of them ran down into town to the Walgreens, which thank God was open twenty-four hours. Isabelle was sure that if Madeline had to wait one more second to take a pregnancy test, she might actually murder everyone around her.

After she had dropped the bomb on everyone out in the woods, there was what could only be described as mass chaos. Isabelle started crying immediately – not something she was proud of. Mackenzie and Jen started screaming wordlessly. Amandla and Willow were completely silent, at a total loss for words. And Jackie and Leven – of course it was Jackie and Leven – who immediately ran off into the woods, threatening to beat the shit out of Mark. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), they took off in two different directions and immediately got lost.

Eventually they got everyone back to Madeline and Leven’s room, coming up with as good of a plan as they could considering it was eleven thirty at night and they were all quickly losing their minds. Isabelle, Leven, and Jackie were designated to sneak off campus and buy as many pregnancy tests as they could while the rest of the girls stayed behind with Madeline and tried to stay calm.

“What the hell is the difference between all of these?” Leven was sitting on the floor of Walgreens, six different boxes spread out on the floor around here. They were incredibly lucky it was midnight because the three of them looked absolutely insane. “Oh who cares, I’m getting all of them.”

“Good, that way the next time one of us gets pregnant we don’t have to do this again.”

“Shut up, Isabelle. You’re going to jinx all of us.”

“Well, she’ll jinx you and me,” Jackie piped up. “But she’s not in any danger.”

“What?” Leven dropped the bright pink First Response box she was holding. “You and Alex don’t have sex?”

“Jackie, Jesus!” Isabelle turned bright red, turning her attention to a shelf full of vitamins. 

“You haven’t had sex?” Leven was basically shrieking at this point.

“We’ve been dating for like a week!”

“Um, so?”

“What do you mean, so? I’m not—”

“Oh-kay.” Jackie pushed her way between Leven and Isabelle, grabbing all the boxes off the floor and making her way to the counter. “Let’s get out of here because this is veering into ridiculous territory.”

Leven sighed, leaning her head back against the shelf behind her. Isabelle didn’t really know what to say – the feeling in the air was definitely weird. So she just sat down next to Leven, not looking at her. “Are you… is this…”

“Messed up?” Leven glanced over. “A little bit yeah.” Silence for a little bit, the only sound the buzz of the fluorescent light and Jackie arguing with the college-aged clerk, who was snapping his gum and clearly high out of his mind (“Yes, I do need all of these. Do you want to judge me a little harder?”). 

“Do you still hate me?” Isabelle asked softly. Ever since all of them had started hanging out, there was usually enough of a buffer that they hadn’t had to talk about any of the weird vibes between them, but as soon as Isabelle and Alex had made things official, she knew it would come up.

“I never hated you.”

“Well, you’re a great actor then.”

Leven snorted. “I didn’t. I just… It was weird, you know? Alex and I have been… whatever we were for a long time and it was just a weird cycle and I kind of felt like it would never end. We kept going back to each other, and deep down I knew it would be over at some point, but I thought that point would be a lot farther in the future.” 

“It’s how much?” Jackie shrieked from the cash register. “Let me tell you, if I ever actually get pregnant, I’m not buying a damn pregnancy test. I’ll just find out for sure when the damn thing pops out!”

“I’m sorry.” Isabelle swallowed nervously. “You know I didn’t know… When it started, I didn’t know.”

“I know.” Leven sighed hugely. “I know.” She glanced over at Jackie who was angrily throwing twenty dollar bills at the bored college kid. “We should probably get out of here.”

“You, sir, are a fascist!”

“Yeah, that’s probably best.” Isabelle stood up, reaching out to Leven and pulling her to her feet.

“For what it’s worth,” Leven said, “I’m glad you’re here. For Maddie. Because I do not think I would be handling this well on my own.”

“You would be fine. We’re all gonna be fine.”

“You think? Because this is all fucked up.”

Jackie stalked past them. “We are never coming back here,” she announced on her way out the door. 

“Whatever you say, Jackie.” The two of them ran after her, trying to keep up with her angry walk. “And yes,” Isabelle continued, “I do think.”

“I cannot believe you are so calm about this,” Jackie threw back over her shoulder. “I would be flipping out.”

“I’m flipping out on the inside. But if I flip out so she can see it, then she’ll flip out and that would be literally the worst thing in the world right now.”

The three of them made it out of town, back over the wall, and to Madeline’s dorm room without incident, dumping the bag of pregnancy tests onto the bed.

“Oh my God,” Jen said, sifting through the boxes, turning one over in her hands. “How many did we need?”

“Don’t judge, we had to make a snap decision.”

“Next time we need an emergency pregnancy test, you get to run across town in the middle of the night. Deal?”

“No deal, Is. You’re officially on pregnancy test duty.”

“Okay,” Leven announced, taking charge as she was wont to do. “We couldn’t pick one. But this one is personally my favorite because instead of a little plus or those tiny fucking lines or something, it actually says pregnant or not pregnant. So I figure there’s no room for error, right?”

Madeline grabbed it out of her hand and headed to the bathroom. “Make sure you read the instructions!” Mackenzie called after her. 

“What instructions?” Madeline yelled back, and Isabelle heard the faucet turn on. There were a few minutes of silence, Madeline doing the deed. “You pee on this thing and then you read this other thing. If you can’t take a pregnancy test, then you can’t have a damn baby.”

“Uh oh,” Isabelle muttered. She’d seen this happen more than once – she could see it coming from a mile off.

“Right?” Madeline’s voice was getting higher and higher. “Because that’s what is about to happen. This tiny little piece of plastic and cardboard or whatever the fuck this is made of is about to tell me that I have a baby inside of me. Do you know what a baby is?”

“Well—”

“It’s a human being, you guys. Like a person. A real little person is inside of me. And it’s gonna come out and it’s gonna scream and poop and eat and I don’t know how to deal with that. I don’t even know how to deal with myself most of the time. How am I going to deal with a baby?”

“Madeline—”

“And it’s going to be half Mark. And that means it’s going to have an attitude and drink too much and come out of the womb trying to pick up girls. I can’t deal with two Marks!”

“Yes, but—”

“And speaking of Mark, how am I going to tell him? Because you know he is going to make a run for it the second he hears anything.”

“Okay, we need to calm ourselves.”

“You’re right.” Madeline opened the bathroom door, drying her hands. “Which is why we are not going to tell him.”

“That seems… unhealthy maybe.”

“No.” She tied her hair up, moving over to the window seat and squeezing in between Amandla and Willow, both of whom seemed slightly terrified of her. “He doesn’t need to know.”

“Well, maybe—”

“No one say a word,” Madeline snapped. “Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Jesus Christ,” Leven whispered under her breath, and the whole situation was so uncomfortable and so completely surreal that Isabelle let out a huge laugh, immediately stifling it with a cough. 

“Maddie.” Jen emerged from the bathroom, where she had disappeared a second before, holding the small white stick in her hand. “Maddie, you’re gonna have a baby.”

**MarkReardon: Where are all the girls?  
** **JackQuaid: What are you talking about?  
** **JackQuaid: And you’re freaking out because…  
** **MarkReardon: I’m not freaking out. Jesus. Just never mind.  
** **JackQuaid: Don’t worry about it, dude. You know them. Who knows what kind of girl shit they do when we’re not around.  
** **MarkReardon: Yeah, I guess you’re right.**

None of them knew what to do. Obviously. Why would they? They were teenagers. And teenagers were not supposed to get pregnant.

They stayed up basically all night, sleeping in shifts on the floor, then waking up and downing a bunch of coffee and Five Hour Energies to listen to another Madeline freak out. The eight of them decided that (at least for now) they would keep it quiet from everyone – no boyfriends, no teachers, and definitely no parents. Madeline finally admitted that yes, at some point she would have to tell Mark, but they all agreed she should wait until after State. Isabelle promised she would keep it mum from their parents – they weren’t even considering how to deal with that hellish situation at this point. That was going to be a whole other battle, and just getting through the night seemed like it was going to be a big enough victory in and of itself. 

Amandla and Willow left at two thirty, after Madeline had spent the last forty-five minutes crying. No one blamed them – it was a lot to deal with, and they kind of felt like they should be shielding the little ones from so much crazy emotion at this point in their lives. Isabelle finally fell asleep around five o’clock, threatening everyone under pain of death to just please for the love of God let her sleep since she had an English test first thing in the morning. She woke up a few minutes before eight, gulping down even more coffee and running out the door, dragging Jackie behind her. Leven, Mackenzie, Jen, and Madeline made an executive decision to skip all their classes, at least for the morning. Not like that would be suspicious or anything. 

But it was probably best because neither Leven nor Madeline had slept at all, and Jen and Mackenzie didn’t really trust themselves to keep their mouths shut around the boys. They were going to have to figure that out fast though because Mark and Alex’s annual Halloween party was that weekend, and they couldn’t avoid the boys forever. 

They did, however, manage to avoid them all morning. By lunch time, Madeline and Leven were still nowhere to be found, so the boys gathered around Isabelle and Jackie, plopping down at their table and immediately stealing as much food off the girls’ plates as they could grab. 

“Hey,” Alex said, slipping his arm around Isabelle’s waist and pilfering Jackie’s French fries with his free hand.

“Excuse me, Ludwig. What in the hell do you think you are doing?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You are literally spitting fries on me right now. Why don’t you steal from your girlfriend?”

“Um…” Alex chewed and swallowed quickly, as if that would make Jackie forget that she was five fries down. “Because she’s my girlfriend. That would be just rude.”

Isabelle looked at him, trying to hide her smile. The beginning stage of a relationship was also fun – being so glowingly happy, becoming comfortable with the other person, annoying the shit out of anyone unlucky enough to be around the happy couple. But that was always how it started, wasn’t it? Before long, the cracks would begin to show, the other person would become irritating, and then it would end, leaving one or both people completely smashed up and hurt. But as soon as Isabelle started having these rather depressing thoughts, it just took one look at her huge beautiful boyfriend to expel them completely. 

She had to tell him about Madeline, right? It seemed weird, almost sinister, to hide something so shatteringly life-changing from him. But it’s not like she was lying or anything. And Mark was his best friend – if she told Alex, he would have to tell Mark, and that wouldn’t be fair to Madeline. It was Maddie’s secret to tell or not tell, as she wished. So no, Isabelle didn’t have to tell Alex anything. At least not yet.

“You’re coming to the party tonight, right?” Jack asked, hooking his chin over Jackie’s shoulder and nudging her ear with his nose until she finally just snorted, pushing her plate over to him.

“Of course.” Mackenzie didn’t even raise her head from the table where it was pillowed in her arms. “Wouldn’t miss it.” She and Jen had showed up after second hour, puffy bags under their eyes and snapping at everyone in sight. “Now please. Shush.”

“Why are you all so tired?” Dayo rolled his eyes. “Did you stay up too late talking about… I don’t know, makeup or something?”

“Makeup or something?”

“You know… girl stuff.”

Isabelle almost laughed. If only he knew. 

Luckily Dayo – and all the boys, for that matter – had the attention span of a two-year-old, so he dropped it as soon as Jen looked away from her plate and he could grab some chips. Alex abandoned Jackie’s French fries, nuzzling his nose into her hair by her ear and sending chills down her spine. “I’ll come get you tonight then? Around nine?”

“Yeah,” she said, turning to him with that little smile that she couldn’t help when she was with him. “Nine sounds good.”

**IsabelleFuhrman: How are you doing?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Eh.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Yeah, me too. Party tonight still?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Ugh I’m gonna have to sit around and watch everyone drink.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: But yeah, I’m going. You?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Couldn’t say no if we tried.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: You’re sure right about that.**

**MadelineFuhrman: You around?  
** **MarkReardon: On my way to physics. What’s up? Are you okay?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I’ve got a question though.  
** **MarkReardon: Anything, sweetheart.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Is physics something you absolutely have to go to? Or can you skip it just this once?  
** **MarkReardon: I’ll be there in ten.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Lev, where the fuck are you? You know I don’t understand this physics shit at all.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: I NEED YOU HERE.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Goddammit, Leven. If I fail our next test because I can’t copy your notes…  
** **DayoOkeniyi: LEVEN.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Where are all the girls? I swear to God, everyone is going nuts around here.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Wait, where are YOU?! I thought you were right behind me!  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Mark???  
** **DayoOkeniyi: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO EVERYONE.**

“It’s open,” Madeline called as soon as she heard the knock on the door. Mark burst in, bringing with him the smell of autumn – crisp air, maple syrup, and drying grass. As soon as he’d texted her back she jumped up, getting rid of any evidence that she had a baby in her – throwing the pregnancy test in her bottom desk drawer and spraying Febreze all around the bathroom, cracking open a window while she was at it. Hopefully he wouldn’t be able to tell that she had been moping around all day, alternately watching Teen Mom and then crying her eyes out. 

“Hey!” He crossed the room in a few steps, immediately pushing her back onto her bed.

“What are you—”

“I missed you,” he said, his voice muffled from where his face was buried in her hair. “Where have you been?”

She scooted backwards towards the head of the bed, settling herself back onto the pillows and dragging him with her. He immediately fit himself into her side, closing his eyes and kicking his shoes off. “I’ve just been… around,” she said, automatically rubbing his back as his breathing got slower, heavier.

“You haven’t been avoiding me?” 

“No.” She leaned her head back, closing her eyes. “No.”

She didn’t wake up until it was starting to get dark, a cold breeze slipping in through the open window and lacing its way around them. Leven was still nowhere to be seen – she had split as soon as Madeline started talking about asking Mark to come over. Mark was sprawled out with his hand on her stomach, and that’s when it all came back to her – stomach, uterus, baby. Mark’s baby. She sat up, trying to push him off so she could get up and go to the bathroom, but as soon as she started moving he woke up with a start, blinking as she flipped the light on. 

“What time is it?”

Madeline leaned over him, glancing at the alarm clock on the other side of the bed. “Ah… eight thirty?”

“Shit.” Mark sat up, reaching around on the floor for his shirt, which he had discarded at some point – Mark absolutely one hundred percent could not sleep with a shirt on. “We’ve gotta get going.”

For a second, Madeline just looked at him. Mark really wasn’t so bad – he was kind and sweet and it seemed like he really cared about her. But she had also known him since he was a baby freshman, and the fact that they were just now starting something didn’t change the fact that she knew him, really knew him. She had seen him go through girls like they were Kleenex – he was a little nicer about it than Alex was, but he still had a short attention span. If she was going to tell him that she was going to have his baby, she needed to be sure that he wasn’t going to just leave. 

Besides, there was no point in saying anything to anyone until after the boys got through State. If Mark went into one of the biggest games of his careers worrying about her, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. They hadn’t even talked about being in a relationship – discussing the rest of their lives was not an option at this point.

As he stretched, pulling his shirt over his head, she leaned forward. “Hey.” He looked at her and she reached out, curling her fingers into the dark hair at the back of his neck. As she kissed him, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to block out all the thoughts running through her mind. 

Forty-five minutes later, they were finally leaving the dorm, already late. Madeline had sort of made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t sleep with Mark until they could talk about things, but of course as soon as things started, that promise went right out the window. On their way across the Common, they came upon Alex and Isabelle, hoisting themselves through Isabelle’s dorm room window. 

Isabelle spotted them right away, abandoning Alex and running over to them, slipping her arm around Madeline’s waist. “Hey little sis.”

“You guys are late.”

Mark snorted. “As are you. What the heck were you doing anyways?”

“Nope,” Madeline cut him off quickly. “I would rather they not answer that question.” She didn’t miss the way Isabelle turned red and Alex tried to hide his smirk, but she pretended she didn’t see it. 

“You two are late to your own party,” Isabelle commented, reaching over to grab Alex’s hand, pulling him closer as they neared the tree line. “Good job.”

“No one will even notice we’re missing,” Alex said, leading them into the woods. It was only a little while before they could see light flickering through the trees and hear people laughing and yelling. As they got closer to the clearing, they saw what looked like the whole school gathered around a huge roaring bonfire, kegs and coolers scattered everywhere, and in honor of Halloween, a huge expanse of fake spider webs and orange twinkle lights hung throughout the trees, stretching over everything.

“Who did all this?” Isabelle asked, knowing it wasn’t Alex or Mark.

Mark shrugged. “I don’t know, some of the cheerleaders I think.” 

Madeline spotted Leven almost immediately – the blonde was holding court in the middle of the party right next to the bonfire, a glass of something in one hand, cigarette in the other, and most of their friends spread out around here. Dayo and Liam were on the ground, engaged in what looked like some sort of… push up contest? Amandla and Willow were cuddled up to each other, huge sweaters engulfing them, trying to keep warm. Jackie and Jack were sitting on a log, and Josh and Mackenzie were nowhere to be seen.

“Maddie!” Leven was screaming across the clearing, waving for them to come over. “Is! Come here!” The girls headed in her direction, dragging their boys along with them. Alex headed immediately to the keg, trying to juggle four cups at once and only dropping one in the process. 

Leven immediately slung her arm around Madeline’s shoulder, quickly switching out Madeline’s full beer for her empty one. After a few pointed looks from Jen and a few not-so-pointed threats from Leven, the boys scattered, running off to do whatever it was that high school boys did at high school parties. As soon as they left, the girls gathered around Madeline. 

“Here’s the deal,” Leven said. “Any time someone hands you a drink, I’m going to drink it.”

Madeline snorted. “Wow. Thank you for taking that bullet for me, Lev.”

“Anytime.” 

“How are you?” Amandla asked sweetly, shivering slightly. 

Madeline shrugged. “I… ah… you know, as good as possible. For now, I just want to have fun and not think about it.”

“Fair enough.” 

“Can you have any fun if you can’t drink?”

“Leven, Jesus.”

For the first time in twenty-four hours, all of them burst out laughing. They had been so stressed since they had heard the news, and Madeline (of course) had been stressed for even longer, and finally – finally – they could actually relax. They didn’t stay relaxed for long because the boys jumped out from behind the fire, scaring the shit out of them. 

After a while some of them got up to go smoke behind one of the ice houses – Leven, Jen, Josh, Liam, Dayo, and Mackenzie – while Amandla and Willow begged off the party entirely, heading back towards the dorms. Surprisingly, Alex and Mark stayed behind, foregoing the little pot party. Part of it was because of football, Madeline was sure, but she also knew that Mark had barely smoked, if at all, since they had started hanging out. So that was progress at least.

**IsabelleFuhrman: Lovebugs, did you get home safe?  
** **AmandlaStenberg: We did! Thanks xx  
** **WillowShields: Take care of Maddie. Text us if anything happens!  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Always.**

Leven was stoned, and not the nice kind of stoned where she just wanted to lay around and look at stars or something, but the really horrible kind where she just wanted to cry about everything. The rest of her friends had trickled off somewhere, going to drink or eat marshmallows or something. She was still behind the ice house where they had smoked, sitting on the ground wrapped up in one of Alex’s old sweatshirts that she had stolen from him at the beginning of their sophomore year. 

The burnt up roach was on the ground next to her and she picked it up, absentmindedly trying to figure out if she could get any more out of it before throwing it back into the dirt in front of her. All out.

“Hey.” She heard a voice from above her, and she looked up, squinting slightly. It was… Alex. What the heck was he doing? Before she could answer, he sat down on the ground in front of her, facing her. “What are you doing out here by yourself?”

Leven shrugged. “Smoking.”

“Are you okay?”

She frowned. “Do I seem not okay?”

Alex laughed, and Leven remembered how much she loved it when Alex laughed, and how she loved it even more when she was the one who caused it. “You’re fine, Lev. I just remember how you get sometimes when you smoke.”

“Which is how?”

“I don’t know… Ah. Sad.”

“I’m not sad.”

“For what it’s worth…” Alex ripped some grass out of the ground, shredding it between his fingers as he talked. “I’m really sorry. For how I treated you. It wasn’t… fair.”

“Nothing we did to each other was fair. It’s fine.”

“It isn’t. And I’m sorry.” There was a long, slightly awkward pause. “Hey, is that my sweatshirt?”

Leven looked down, smiling. “Yeah, I, uh… stole it. I stole it.”

“God, you’re such a menace, Lev.” He grinned at her.

Leven looked at him, remembering why she had been so in love with him – why she still was, if she was being honest with herself. And that, plus the pot, was the only reason she could justify to herself what she did next.

**IsabelleFuhrman: How long are you thinking about staying?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: I’m ready to go whenever you are.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Okay, I just have to find Alex. I’m about ready to pass out and I’m not even the pregnant one.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Ha. Ha.**

**JacquelineEmerson: Where ARE you?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Where are YOU? I lost you like two hours ago!  
** **JacquelineEmerson: Tbh… I don’t know.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: How drunk are you??  
** **JacquelineEmerson: On a scale of one to ten… um, DRUNK.**

**IsabelleFuhrman: Are you with Jackie?  
** **JackQuaid: Dude, I straight lost her.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Me too. But I think she’s had way too much to drink and I’m about to head out so…  
** **JackQuaid: I’m on it.**

Yes, Alex knew it was a stupid idea. He had gone out into the woods surrounding the clearing to have a quick cigarette, which is where he found Leven sitting, clearly upset about something. And no matter what their history was, Alex still cared about her and she would always be his friend.

So he sat down, he tried to ask her what was wrong, he apologized for being an asshole – because he had been an asshole and he shouldn’t have acted like that – and then Leven had to go and make things weird.

Before he even realized what was happening (he was kind of buzzed, okay?), she was leaning forward, her long hair falling over her shoulders and brushing his face as she kissed him, tasting like pot and hard lemonade. He immediately jumped back, almost falling into the dirt in his haste to pull away. “Leven, come on.”

She stared at him, horrified, eyes widening. He could tell even in the dark how big her pupils were and he knew that someone had to get her home before she straight fell asleep in the woods and froze to death. Before he could do anything, she jumped up, taking off behind the ice house into the dark. “Leven! Goddammit, Leven!”

“Hey,” he heard Isabelle say from behind him. Alex turned around quickly. She was smiling at him, head cocked to the side. “Are you about ready to go? You don’t have to, but I just… I’m like crazy exhausted and I—”

“Yeah.” He crossed over to her, slipping his arms around her neck and kissing her. When he pulled away, she was staring up at him, smiling. 

“What was that for?”

“I don’t know. I just kind of like you, Fuhrman.”

“Yeah? I kind of like you too.”

“Let’s go, sweetie.”

It wasn’t until later when Alex was slipping into bed beside his girlfriend, pulling her tight against him, that he remembered that he should probably check on Leven.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex tries to talk some sense into Leven, Ian confronts Isabelle, Jackie has a heated conversation with Jack, and Mark makes a big decision.

As it turned out, Leven did make it out of the woods alright – a fact that Alex figured out when he went back to his room on the Saturday morning after the party. He had slept at Isabelle’s after she had drunkenly murmured to him to stay once he had walked her home. She was still sleeping when he left, getting up early so he could go to the gym. But he had to stop at his dorm first to change and eat something, which is where he found Leven.

She was sitting on his bed, still wearing the same clothes she’d had on the night before, knees drawn up to her chest. Mark was snoring away across the room, and Alex knew there was no way he would be awake before noon, even if a bomb went off in their room.

“Lev, what are you doing here?” Alex asked as he pushed through the door, seeing her sitting there. “You’ve gotta go, I can’t—”

“Look, I didn’t mean to…” She was slightly more coherent now that she wasn’t stoned out of her mind. “To kiss you, it was just a stupid thing and I don’t want things to be weird.”

Alex didn’t go over to her, just stood awkwardly in the center of the room. “They aren’t weird, but you can’t do stuff like that.”

“They are weird and you know it.”

He could not believe she was sitting here arguing with him right now, but after thinking about it for a second, it was not that far off from the way things were when they were dating. All they did was sit around and argue with each other about stupid things – whether Alex was texting other girls, why he wasn’t texting Leven back when he had just been on Facebook (“You know it tells you that, Alex. I can see when you’re online.”), why she couldn’t just get off his back for two seconds. All Alex knew was that a relationship like that wasn’t normal – it shouldn’t be that hard. And it wasn’t with Isabelle. It wasn’t like that. And he really didn’t want it to turn into that, which it might if she found out that Leven had kissed him or that she was now in his bed.

“Well, God, Leven!” Alex raised his voice, and Mark shifted in his sleep. “You cannot just kiss me and except everything to be normal! You know I’m with Isabelle, you know—”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you with her?”

Alex rubbed his hand over his face, sighing hugely. “Are we seriously doing this right now?” When Leven didn’t answer, he figured that yes, apparently they were having that conversation right at that moment. “It has nothing to do with you, Lev. I know that when this year started we were hooking up, and it was… you know, good. But I really like Isabelle and I have to try to be with her, or I’m really going to regret it.”

“Well I didn’t get any closure.”

“What kind of closure do you need?”

Leven got up, coming closer to him, and in his relief that she was finally off his bed he just stood there, hoping maybe they could work this out so he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. “Well…”

“Spit it out, Lev.”

“I was thinking we could just… you know, one more time.”

At that point, Alex knew he had made a huge mistake and should probably get Leven out of his room as quickly as possible. “You want to hook up one more time,” he clarified. 

“Yes.”

“Nope.” He backed up until he hit the door at the end of Mark’s bed, gently easing it open behind him. “No, no, no. Nope. No.”

“Alex, come on. It’s like recycling, it’s good for the environment.”

“Like recycling? Are you still high?” Alex pulled the door all the way open, gently trying to push Leven out of it. Mark moved again and Alex glanced over. “Let’s just talk about this outside.” 

Eventually he managed to herd her out of the dorm and to one of the benches in the yard behind the building (far away from where anyone happening to glance out of their window could see them). “Sit.” Alex sat her down on the bench, sitting down beside her but as far away as he could manage without sitting on the ground. “Quiet.”

“But I—”

“Leven. Shut it for two seconds please.” He took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to say what he needed to without being a dick about it. “We’ve been friends for a long, long time. And I want to continue to be friends for a long, long time. But that’s not going to happen if you keep pulling shit like this. And if you really want to be my friend, then you would respect my relationship and you would respect Isabelle, who I thought you were friends with, by the way, so you shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing, and I just don’t understand—”

“I’m in love with you.”

Alex just started at her, his brain wiped completely clean of everything that he had been trying to say. “Stop.”

“No, I’m serious. I have been this entire time, I just… didn’t know it yet. But I am and I want to be with you and I know we couldn’t have worked it out before but we can now, we can work it out. So why don’t you try?”

Alex stood up, shaking his head, completely done with the conversation and Leven in general. “What part of I am with Isabelle do you not understand?”

“I know.” Leven looked down. “But we didn’t even get a chance. I’ve been here this whole time and it just seems like we should try.”

“No, Lev. Just… no.” And he walked away without looking back.

**IsabelleFuhrman: Hope you have a good work out! See you later, I hope!  
** **AlexanderLudwig: Of course, sweetie. I’ll come meet you when you get done with practice.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Good, see you then!**

If Isabelle had any say in it, they would not be having swim practice on Saturdays. At least she got to hang out with Amandla and Willow and Ian – although she hadn’t actually seen Ian around in a while. Obviously he was still on the team but he was definitely avoiding her at practice, an issue that she hadn’t dealt with yet, considering her new relationship and all the drama with Madeline and the b-a-b-y.

Isabelle was standing behind the blocks, waiting for her to turn to swim. Amandla was right behind her in line, yawning hugely. “God, I’m tired,” she whispered to Isabelle, punctuating it with another yawn.

“Tell me about it.” The guy in front of Isabelle dove off the blocks when the whistle blew, slicing through the water with barely a splash. She stepped up, feeling the roughness beneath her toes. She rolled her neck, popping the bones there, and leaned down, gripping the edge with her fingers and waiting for the whistle.

As soon as she heard it, she pushed off, rocketing herself into the water and slicing through it as quickly as she could until she reached the other side, slapping the concrete with her palm. She hoisted herself out of the pool, seeing Amandla coming through the water behind her. Ian was just pulling himself up a few lanes away from her and she scurried over to him.

“Hey!” She touched his shoulder and he jumped like she had burned him. “Where have you been?” 

He just stared at her. “What do you mean?”

“You haven’t been avoiding me, have you?”

Ian just shook his head. “I’ve gotta go, Isabelle. We can talk about this later.” He walked away, leaving Isabelle standing there, completely confused.

“What the heck was that all about?” Amandla asked, appearing at Isabelle’s shoulder.

“That was weird, right?” She turned to her friend. “That was not just me.”

“Super weird.”

Isabelle tried to put it out of her mind for the rest of practice, focusing on her sprints and her breathing, and before she knew it, it was over. Thankfully. She was fricking exhausted and possibly still a little hungover and she just wanted to go home, drink an ocean of Gatorade, and get into bed with her boyfriend. 

Alex was waiting there for her when she came out of the locker room, hair tied up in a bun, still wet from the shower. He immediately grabbed her bag from her, pushing her up against the wall by the locker room door. “Hey, Scrappy,” he said, leaning down. She could feel him smiling as he kissed her, and she couldn’t keep herself from smiling back. He dropped her duffel bag onto the floor, bringing his hands up and cupping the back of her neck, and she was just starting to ease her arms around his back when someone cleared their throat next them. 

Isabelle pulled back, glancing to her left in the direction of the noise. It was Ian, just standing there, like he had something to say but didn’t know what or how. “Oh, hey!” She pushed Alex back slightly, not looking at him because she knew if she did she would lose her train of thought immediately. He stepped forward again, trying to go back in for another kiss, biting his lip, and she pushed him back again. “Are you okay?”

Isabelle didn’t know Ian very well, although it wasn’t for lack of trying – it’s just that the first couple of school had been really hard. The classes were more difficult than she was used to; living with someone – as great as Jackie was – was a big change; being away from her parents and the stuff with Alex and Madeline, of course… It was all a lot to take in. And her friendship with Ian had kind of fallen by the wayside. She felt bad about it; really, she did. 

Apparently Ian felt the same way, but now he seemed… pissed off.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Ian asked. “Away from… him.” At this, Isabelle did look at Alex, who narrowed his eyes, taking a step towards Ian. For the third time in thirty seconds, she put a hand on his chest, pushing him backwards.

“Easy,” she muttered to him. “It’s okay.” She turned to Ian. “Yeah. Let’s… ah, go over there.” She gestured towards the front steps of the pool house and followed Ian over there, warning Alex with a look to stay where he was.

Ian stepped out into the early November sunlight, the breeze wrapping around them and immediately chilling Isabelle to the bone. She pulled her sweater around her. “What’s up?”

“You asked me if I’d been avoiding you. And yeah, I have.”

“Isabelle frowned. “What, why?”

“Are you kidding me?” Ian’s voice was so harsh that Isabelle actually took a step backwards. “You’re really gonna act that stupid?”

“How am I—”

“Come off it, Isabelle. You walk around like you’re the queen of the world and you’ve got your dumb little friends and your idiot boyfriend always backing you up so no one else would ever even try to get into your little circle.”

“Okay, hey, that’s just ridiculous—”

Ian took a step towards her and Isabelle glanced over her shoulder. Maybe she shouldn’t have left Alex behind, because this was getting a little… weird.

“No, it’s not. You’re just like them and you know it. You know, when you got here you seemed so different and I thought… wow, I actually like this girl. She’s not like the rest of them. But you’re exactly like them.”

“Um, okay, well first of all, there’s nothing wrong with them—”

“Really?” Ian was raising his voice word by word. “You’ve got Leven, who is so blonde it’s a wonder she can find her way to the bathroom in the morning. You’ve got the Wolf Pack or whatever it is those idiots call themselves, who basically walk around with their knuckles dragging on the ground they’re so Neanderthal.”

“Seriously, you have to calm down.”

“And then you’ve got King Ludwig… You know I really thought you were smarter than this, but you’re not.”

“Ian.”

“You fell for him just like the rest of the stupid girls around here, and you’re sitting around thinking that he likes you? That he’s not sleeping with everyone else he can get his hands on? And you still gave up everything for him, you’re so fucking stupid—”

And then all of a sudden, Ian was not in front of her anymore because Alex had come out of nowhere and hit him with the biggest block she’d ever seen, sending the both of them sailing through the air and onto the ground and missing the steps completely. 

Isabelle stood there for a moment, completely stunned, not able to even process what the hell had just happened. Amandla and Willow appeared at her elbows, both with their mouths wide open. “Holy. Shit,” Willow murmured. “This is not good.”

“Fuck.” Isabelle ran down the steps, trying to figure out what to do. The two boys were rolling around on the ground, and it was incredibly clear that Alex had the upper hand, which made sense considering he had at least a hundred pounds on Ian, if not more. “Alex, stop.”

She doubted he could even hear her, and even if he could, she was sure he wouldn’t listen. The girls looked around frantically, trying to see what they could do to break up the fight before a teacher got wind of it. Thankfully, Dayo was walking across the courtyard, Beats around his neck, looking at his phone. Isabelle took off in a full sprint towards him, practically smashing into him.

“Dayo, Dayo, Dayo.” She could barely even get the words out she was so panicked. Instead, she just pointed, and Dayo took off without a word.

He jumped into the fight without hesitating – not that it was much of a fight at this point. “What the fuck, Ludwig?” he was shouting. Alex was so mad he couldn’t speak, still swinging as Dayo pulled him away from Ian. A small crowd had gathered at this point and Dayo looked around, yelling, “Do y’all not have anything better to do?” They quickly disbanded, not willing to risk the wrath of either Dayo or Alex at this point.

Isabelle finally caught up to them, grabbing Alex’s arm. “Come on, we’ve gotta get out of here.” He still didn’t say anything, running a hand through his hair and trying to ruffle it back into shape. Isabelle turned to her friends. “Thank you, Dayo,” she called back over her shoulder, hurrying Alex off in the direction of the dorms. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Always up for breaking up a fight, Little Fuhrman.” He was ushering Amandla and Willow in the opposite direction towards the cafeteria. “Text me if you need me.”

Alex didn’t say a word to Isabelle until they were back in her room, and then he couldn’t shut up. “What the hell was that little fucker’s problem? Does he really think he can talk to you like that? He’s really fucking lucky that Dayo was there, and you can bet that I’m gonna make sure he never comes near you again, you don’t have to worry about that for a second.”

“Alex—”

“The fucking nerve – I literally cannot believe—”

“Alex…”

“Just wait until I get my hands on him, I swear to God, Isabelle—”

“Alexander!”

Finally he stopped yelling and turned around to look at her. “What?”

“You’ve got to relax. I promise you, it is not as big of a deal as you think it is. It’s just… he was just pissed off and he got, I don’t know, kind of mean, but you didn’t have to fucking jump him.”

Alex took a step closer to her, reaching out to touch her arm. “Are you mad at me, Is?”

Isabelle sat down on her bed, Alex following her down. “I’m not mad.”

“Do you promise?”

She looked up at him, smiling at the look on his face – like a little kid who had just gotten busted by his mom for fighting on the playground or something. It was really hard to be mad at Alex. “Hey,” she said softly, scooting closer to him and swinging one leg over his lap, pushing him back against the pillows and looming over him. She cupped the back of his head, making sure he was looking right at her. “I promise.”

Alex slipped his hands around her hips and up the back of her shirt, running his fingers along the bumps of her spine as he kissed her. “Good.”

She pulled back, her hair falling down over one eye as she tilted her head, looking at him. “I do like that you take care of me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Isabelle smiled. “Although you don’t have to… you know. Beat the hell out of people.”

“Duly noted,” Alex said, voice muffled as he focused all of his attention on kissing Isabelle’s neck and steering her down onto her back. “I promise I will never get in a fight with anyone around you ever again.”

She closed her eyes, gripping the back of his neck even tighter and letting him drag her under until she forgot about Ian, forgot about Madeline, and could focus only on her boyfriend.

**MarkReardon: Gonna do it.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Do what?  
** **MarkReardon: Ask Maddie to be my girlfriend.  
 ********JackQuaid: Are you high?  
** **MarkReardon: No.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Drunk?  
** **MarkReardon: No.  
** **JackQuaid: Sleep-deprived?  
** **MarkReardon: You guys. It’s gonna be fine.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: I’m sure it will be. Good luck, man.  
** **JackQuaid: We’ll be here with a 6 pack if you need it.**

********

**DayoOkeniyi: Did you hear about the fight?  
** **LevenRambin: What??? What fight?  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Ian and Alex.  
** **LevenRambin: Blah. Who cares.**

**JenniferLawrence: I heard you were a real hero earlier, huh, Okeniyi?  
** **DayoOkeniyi: You know me… Only good for one thing.  
** **JenniferLawrence: Seriously, what happened??  
** **DayoOkeniyi: I got no backstory whatsoever (of course, I’m always the last one to know everything), but as far as I could tell, Ian said something that pissed Alex off.  
** **JenniferLawrence: Imagine that.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Right? But I think Ian was being kind of a dickhole to Isabelle and you know Alex… kind of set him off.  
** **JenniferLawrence: Well good thing you were there then. For real.**

Jackie was laying across Madeline’s bed, watching Leven angrily organize her makeup brushes, slamming drawers in her wake, a breeze floating in through the open window. “Hey, Lev. I have a question.”

“What?” Leven snapped.

“Um. Are you okay?”

Leven opened the middle drawer of her desk, sweeping everything on top of it into the drawer and closing it with a bang. She didn’t answer for a long time and Jackie rolled over, staring at the ceiling above Madeline’s bed. Finally Leven said, “If I tell you, you have to keep it a secret.”

“Yeah, of course.” Jackie agreed without even thinking – Leven had been one of her best friends for a long time now and even though everything had been turned upside down this year, that hadn’t changed. “Lev, you know you don’t have to keep anything from me.”

Leven crawled into her bed, pulling a blanket over herself and burying her face in a pillow, smudging bronzer across the fabric. “You’re going to hate me.”

Immediately Jackie knew it had to be about Alex, but she figured she should at least hear her out. “You know that’s not true.”

Leven sighed. “I kissed Alex.”

Yep. She definitely should have seen that coming. She sat up quickly, staring at Leven from across the room.

“And then,” Leven continued, as if that wasn’t enough of a bombshell, “I tried to have sex with him.”

Jackie didn’t say anything, taking as much time to process that as she could. The story of Alex and Leven was a complicated one to say the least, and Jackie had had the privilege of watching the whole thing play out. They had horrible communication, they were never on the same page, and they loved each other so much but just could not get themselves together. Jackie had sat with Leven as she cried over Alex. She had heard stories of Alex drinking himself into near blackout after he found Leven with someone else. It was a volatile relationship, and she could one hundred percent say that Alex was a different person now that he was with Isabelle. It wasn’t anyone’s fault – it’s just that Leven and Alex couldn’t be together.

Before she could say anything, Leven added on to her little tale of terror. “And one more thing.”

“God, Leven, what?”

“I told him I’m in love with him.”

Well, that was a new one.

“You did what?”

“Yeah. I did.” 

“Holy shit, Leven. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Well, I wasn’t. Clearly.”

“What did he say?”

Jackie listened carefully as Leven relayed the whole story. “He didn’t say anything really. He just kept saying no over and over and then when I told him I love him he said basically nothing. Just that I should stop talking. And then he ran away. And I’m an idiot.”

“Well…” Jackie didn’t know what to say – being caught in between Isabelle and Leven was not really a place she wanted to be. And she couldn’t not tell Isabelle all of this. “I mean, if that’s how you really feel… at least you said something.”

“I made myself look stupid, Jackie.”

Jackie just shook her head, laying back down. “I don’t know what to tell you, Leven.”

Leven sat up, shaking her head. “Look, I fucked up, okay? I am well aware of that. But I was just thinking about Madeline and how she was sleeping with Mark, for fuck’s sake, and he’s so in love with her and she’ll never know it because she won’t give him a chance to say it to her. And I didn’t want to be like that. I don’t want to be looking back in ten years thinking that I should’ve said something that I didn’t.”

“You’re really looking to Madeline and Mark to make your big life decisions? You know I love them to death, but come on, Leven. He got her pregnant and now she’s refusing to tell him that she’s carrying his damn child. That doesn’t seem like the best decision making, now does it?”

Leven opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by an all-too-familiar voice. “What. The fuck.”

Jackie’s blood immediately ran cold, and all of a sudden she understood that particular cliché. Because behind Leven, standing at the open window, mouth hanging open, was Jack.

**JacquelineEmerson: 911.**

“Listen to me, Jack. You cannot fucking tell him. Promise me.”

Jack was hysterical, as was an appropriate reaction to the situation, Jackie thought. At least the girls had had some time to process the information – to be fair, they hadn’t taken it well either. 

“I can’t keep this from him! This is huge, Jackie, you don’t understand.”

“We don’t understand? We’ve been dealing with this for a little bit longer than you have!”

Jack was pacing the room. He had immediately begun shrieking at the top of his lungs after hearing Jackie’s outburst, and Leven and Jackie had had to haul him through the window, slamming it shut behind him so no one on the Common would hear him. He hadn’t stopped screaming for about ten minutes until finally they managed to shut him up by promising they would explain everything. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much to explain. It wasn’t their secret to tell. Which made it even suckier that Jackie had accidentally told it.

She was close to tears at this point, somewhere between terrified and exhausted. “Please, Jack. If you care about me at all you won’t say anything.”

“You know I care about you! And don’t do that, that’s not fair.”

“She’s going to tell him,” Leven interjected. “Just not yet.”

“Then when?”

“After State.” Jackie was actually crying now. “I promise. We just need you to keep it quiet until then.”

Jack was silent for a moment, contemplating. “Who knows?”

“Us. Isabelle. The rest of the girls. That’s all.”

Jack sat down in Madeline’s desk chair, dropping his head into his heads and rubbing his temples like he had instantly gotten a headache. Jackie could sympathize with that feeling. “What if she doesn’t tell him?”

“She’s going to. She’s only keeping it quiet for now so that he can get through the game.”

Jack shook his head, clearly having an internal battle with himself. Finally, after what seemed like ages and six or seven years off of Jackie’s life, he looked up at her, eyes rimmed red, face pale. “Fine. You get your way.”

Jackie started to say thank you, to hug him, to tell him she was sorry, but he stood up, pushing past her and towards the door. “But you know what? I can’t believe you would keep this from me.” He reached toward the doorknob, pulling the door open and not looking at her as he walked through it. “I thought we were better than that.”

After he had walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him, Jackie looked at Leven, mouth dropped open in shock and tears still slipping down her cheeks. “How the fuck did this become my problem?”

Leven shook her head, sighing a world-weary sigh that should have been coming out of the mouth of someone a lot older than seventeen. “I’m still trying to figure out how we got ourselves into this situation in the first place.”

Jackie sank down to the floor in between the beds, Leven following suit. “But you know what?” Leven continued.

“What?”

“We’d better get ourselves together fast. Because it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better.”

“We can’t tell Maddie that he knows. She’ll die.”

“Mum’s the word.”

“Swear?”

“Swear.”

**IanNelson: Can we talk?  
** **IanNelson: Isabelle, come on.  
** **IanNelson: I’m really sorry. Just talk to me.**

**AlexanderLudwig: You’re really lucky that I promised Isabelle I wouldn’t finish what I started with you. But let me tell you this. You had better stay the fuck away from her or you’re going to be really, really sorry.**

**AlexanderLudwig: Hey, thanks for today.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: Anything for you. Also you owe me a beer.  
** **AlexanderLudwig: Of course. Just put it on my tab.  
** **DayoOkeniyi: You joke, but I’m going to start one.  
** **AlexanderLudwig: Haha, please.**

He was going to do it. He was really going to do it. 

And he wasn’t even really freaking out about it. Not that much.

Okay, maybe a little bit. Madeline was a scary person. And he liked her a lot – a whole lot – but she was intimidating, even to him. He didn’t really know why because she wasn’t mean or rude or cold. It was more of an indescribable quality, something about her that made her very independent and self-sufficient. Like she didn’t need him. She didn’t need anyone.

But maybe, just maybe, she would want him in her life, not out of necessity, but because she had actual, legitimate feelings.

So he was going to take a chance. 

First of all though, he had to stop being pissed off at Alex. He’d woken up when Leven had burst through Alex’s window, but then he’d fallen asleep while she was waiting for him to come home, and he hadn’t woken up again until Alex was already there. 

Here’s the thing – even if he hadn’t been trying to date her sister, Mark really liked Isabelle. She was so sweet and funny and really good for Alex – Mark had seen a definite change in him, or at least he’d thought he had. But maybe he had been wrong, considering Alex kissed Leven or Leven kissed Alex or some fucked up version of one of the above. Mark had woken up while the two of them were talking about and he tried his hardest not to move, listening as closely as he could. Eventually the two of them left, leaving Mark alone in the room, incredibly pissed off.

He didn’t know if he should say anything to Isabelle – he didn’t want to be that guy. But what if Madeline found out that he knew something and didn’t say anything? 

At least for now he had to put the whole thing out of his mind. 

**MarkReardon: Hey where are you?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: The Circle.  
** **MarkReardon: Really?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Yeah lol. I went back to the room and it was a super weird vibe so I just got my stuff and came out here.  
** **MarkReardon: You want any company?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Yes please.**

Leven and Jackie were being so weird. Madeline had been gone all day, at the library with Jen and Mackenzie and then going into town to eat. When she had gotten back to her room, Leven and Jackie were sitting on the floor, looking like they had just killed someone. Madeline tried to talk about whatever was bothering them but they wouldn’t say anything, just looking at her like she had grown an extra head. So she grabbed her physics book and a blanket and left, making her way out to the Circle. She was glad when Mark texted her because she was starting to get a little bored and incredibly cold.

He turned up just a few minutes after he had texted her. “Maddie, what are you doing out here?” He sat down next to her on the log, cuddling up next to her. She held her blanket open, letting him slide underneath. He was warm, like he always was, and she let her physics book fall shut, setting it down next to her.

“How was your day?”

“It was good,” Mark said. “I didn’t do anything. Went to the gym. Ate like twenty pancakes.”

“So the usual.”

Mark laughed. “Basically.” Then he remembered the conversation he’d had with Dayo at lunch. “Oh, did you hear about Alex?”

“What about Alex?”

He hesitated for a second, just long enough for Madeline to get worried – if he had hurt her sister, she swore to God she was going to murder him. She would actually kill him. But then Mark spoke up. “He got in a fight with Ian at Isabelle’s swim practice.”

“That sounds… wait, what?”

“As far as I could tell, Ian was talking to Isabelle, and I don’t know if that pissed Alex off or if Ian was being kind of a douche bag – from what I heard, it was a little bit of both. And Alex like tackled the shit out of him, and Isabelle is standing right there freaking out obviously, so she goes and runs to get Dayo, who just happened to be around – and he was the one who told me all this. So he runs over there and breaks it up, but he said it was serious, like Alex was legitimately beating the shit out of him when Dayo finally got to them.”

Madeline just stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“One hundred percent.”

“Holy shit.”

“I know. So here’s hoping that Ian watches his back, and also that Alex isn’t left alone for too long.”

“No kidding.”

Madeline reached over, sliding her hand down his arm until she reached his palm, intertwining her fingers with his and squeezing slightly. He looked down at her, smiling. “So…” she said. “What else is new?”

Mark took a deep breath, turning towards her and swinging one leg over the log so he was straddling it, facing her. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Madeline immediately froze. All she could think was holy shit, fuck, he knows. He knows, someone told him, he heard it, he knows. She instantly began coming up with excuses – she hadn’t wanted to bother him, she knew he had State coming up and finals, they weren’t even dating so how could they raise a child together. As all of these thoughts bubbled up in her brain she felt herself getting more and more panicked. By the time Mark actually spoke, she thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. 

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Look, Madeline.”

“Listen, I can explain.”

He continued like he hadn’t even heard her. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately. And I know that we’ve been hooking up for a couple of months now, and I know that’s not a long time, but I… I’m sure about how I feel.”

Madeline finally managed to speak. “Which is… how exactly?”

Mark looked right at her. “I’m in love with you.” She opened her mouth to try to say something, but before she could, he soldiered on. “I don’t care what you think because I’m sure about this. And I want to be with you and I want you to be my girlfriend and I love you.” 

Well holy shit.

Madeline thought for a second. As scared as she was, she couldn’t tell Mark. Not now, not yet. And she knew how she felt too. So she leaned forward, kissing him. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. I love you too.”

And just for now, even though it couldn’t stay that way, even though their lives were about to change in their entirety, everything could be perfect.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The whole gang heads to New York for Thanksgiving, where secrets come out at dinner.

Apparently, now that both of their children were at boarding school, Elina and Nick Fuhrman decided to spend Thanksgiving in Europe, which Isabelle thought was ridiculous because why would you want to spend the best holiday in a country in which that holiday did not exist? She had no say in the matter – they had called a few weeks earlier to tell her and Madeline that they were sorry and that the girls could certainly go home to New York and spend it together. But then again, she had had no say in getting sent to boarding school and so far that had turned out pretty great.

That was how Isabelle found herself on a train to New York City the day before Thanksgiving, with not only Madeline but also Alex, Mark, Jackie, Jack, Leven, and Dayo. They were going to have their own little family dinner, or at least they were going to try to – it was going to be touch and go considering Dayo was the only one who could cook anything.

They had only been on the train for about five minutes when Alex passed out, head on Isabelle’s shoulder, hand on her thigh, completely asleep. They were all exhausted – most of their teachers had piled on the homework, papers, and tests right before the break, knowing that when they got back things would be crazy with State and finals right around the corner.

The last few weeks in general had been weird for everyone. All of a sudden, Mark and Madeline were officially dating, which no one had been expecting. Leven and Jackie couldn’t be pried apart from each other, whereas Jack and Jackie were ignoring each other completely. Alex spent most of his time in the gym getting ready for State. And Isabelle had her own drama to deal with, trying to avoid Ian at practice as much as possible, sticking close to Amandla and Willow and pretending like he did not exist.

It was going to be really good to get away from Dalton for a few days, even if it was just for a long weekend.

Alex shifted in his seat, nuzzling his nose further into Isabelle’s neck and sending chills down his spine. She looked down at him, smiling and resting her cheek on the top of his head. She closed her eyes, not seeing Leven pale a little, pulling her knees up to her chest and intently focusing her gaze out the window and away from her friends. She didn’t see Jackie pat Leven’s knee, trying to be comforting. She didn’t see Jack roll his eyes, sitting as far away from Jackie and Leven as possible. And she didn’t see Mark look back and forth from Leven to Alex, opening his mouth and then closing it again when Madeline looked at him, confusion written all over her face.

Oh yeah. It was going to be a great Thanksgiving.

When they got off the train, Jack and Dayo immediately headed off in the wrong direction, forcing Alex to chase after them and steer them back towards the rest of the group. If they got back to Dalton at the end of the weekend without losing anyone, it would be a miracle.

When Isabelle had pitched the idea to their parents of having all their friends over for Thanksgiving, she didn’t really think Elina and Nick would say no, but she didn’t know anything for sure at this point. Madeline was just relieved she didn’t have to see them, because then there was no chance she would have to tell them about the pregnancy. In fact, Madeline had insisted on staying out of the Skype call completely, instructing Isabelle that, if their parents asked, she should say Madeline was studying.

“We were just thinking,” Isabelle had said, “that since you won’t be here and we don’t want to sit at home by ourselves, we would bring some of our friends along. Alex is Canadian, so his family doesn’t really do Thanksgiving, and plus him and Mark and Dayo are freaking out about State too much to deal with flying home, and if they stay, Jack and Leven are staying, so…”

Elina looked at Nick, the connection fuzzy, their faces freezing in the frame every few seconds. They just shrugged. “It’s okay with us. Try not to trash the house or anything.”

Isabelle snorted. “We aren’t going to have a party or anything.”

Alex, who was lying on her bed, made an offended noise and she quickly raised her eyebrows at him. 

And that’s how the eight of them found themselves at Fuhrman Friendsgiving, as Isabelle was insisting on calling it. 

Madeline led them into the building, saying hi to the doorman as they passed through the revolving glass doors and into the lobby. Isabelle looked back at Alex, who was carrying their bags and looking around in shock. Everyone who went to Dalton had rich families – it was part of the territory. But it was different seeing it in person, experiencing it like this, especially since Isabelle had grown up in it and was now seeing it through someone else’s eyes.

“Stop it,” she said, nudging Alex as they made their way to the elevators, Madeline inserting her key and pressing the penthouse button. 

He looked down at her, smirking. “I tried to hide it, but I can’t anymore,” he said as the elevator rocketed up twenty-eight floors to the top of the building. “You know I’m just with you for your money.”

“Shut up.” She laughed.

The doors opened onto their floor, and the guys tumbled out, dropping their bags and immediately taking off into the apartment. “Don’t break anything!” Madeline called after them. “Please for the love of God!” 

It was weird being back, even though she had only been at Dalton for a few months. Isabelle kind of felt like everything had changed, like she was coming back a different person. And she was. They all were. 

Dayo was banging around in the kitchen, opening every cupboard and drawer that he could find. “Little Fuhrman!” he called, and Isabelle headed over to him as Leven, Jackie, Mark, and Madeline settled themselves in the huge sunken living room, turning on the TV. “There is no food here.”

“Yeah, my parents don’t really cook.”

“Is, it’s Thanksgiving—”

“Friendsgiving.” Dayo stopped and glared at her until she sighed. “Fine. Go ahead.”

“I can’t cook without food.”

“No, duh. Just write down what you need and the maid will go get it this afternoon and then tomorrow you’ll have everything you need. Calm down.”

“The maid? You have a maid?”

Isabelle walked away from him, rolling her eyes and taking on the task of finding Jack and Alex before they caused some major damage. And of course, they were the first place she looked and the last place she was hoping they’d be – in her room.

“What the heck are you doing?”

Alex turned around from where he was standing at her desk, holding a picture of her and Madeline from some Halloween when they were little, Madeline dressed as a cowgirl and Isabelle as an M&M. “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Put it down.”

Jack was sitting in Isabelle’s desk chair, spinning around and around. Eventually he stopped, looking a little green before sprawling out on the floor and asking, “What is everyone doing?”

“Watching TV,” Isabelle said, sitting down on the edge of her bed, staring up at the fairy lights wrapped around the canopy. “And Dayo is freaking out about food. Although I guess he gets to freak out, since he’s going to be the only reason we have anything to eat tomorrow.”

“Hey, I can cook,” Alex protested, coming over to sit next to her, stepping over Jack in the process. “I just choose not to.”

Jack snorted. “You cannot cook, unless you count Ramen. And you can’t even really make that. Remember that time I caught you eating it raw? Just a block of uncooked noodles.”

“That is disgusting,” Isabelle said, slipping her arm around his waist and looking up at him. 

“I was tired… And it was a lot of work.”

“I know, sweetie.”

They heard shouts from downstairs, and knew that Dayo and Mark must have convinced the girls that they needed to watch football. “Do you guys want to go downstairs?” Isabelle asked.

“No,” Alex and Jack answered simultaneously, looking at each other in confusion. Isabelle didn’t know what was going on with the two of them, but she chalked it up to Alex being worried about State and Jack always had some weirdness going on with Jackie, nothing which Jackie had been too willing to discuss as of late. She would deal with it later – one crisis at a time.

**IsabelleFuhrman: Did you make it home okay?  
** **AmandlaStenberg: I did! Did y’all?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Yes ma’am! Have a good Thanksgiving… See you when we get back!  
** **AmandlaStenberg: See you then xx**

On Thanksgiving morning the boys woke up and immediately kicked all of the girls out of the house. It was Dayo’s idea – the rest of them just went along with it. This was made that much more painful by the fact that they had all stayed up until four in the morning, alternating between watching TV and watching the boys play Xbox for hours. It was then that Alex noticed how tense things were between him and Mark, and Alex didn’t really know why, so he was hoping that with the girls gone, he would get a chance to talk about it with him. 

Dayo was already freaking out. Overnight a bunch of food had appeared mysteriously (or not so mysteriously – who had a maid these days anyways?) in the kitchen, and as soon as Dayo got downstairs, waking up far earlier than anyone should on a holiday, he panicked.

“Little Fuhrman!” Alex was woken up by a giant, screaming Dayo jumping on Isabelle’s bed, knocking him off completely and onto the floor. “Little Fuhrman, you have to get up!”

Isabelle rolled over, burying her head under one pillow and throwing another at Dayo’s face. “Get. Out.”

“I can’t.” Alex sat up, rubbing a hand over his face, and glancing at the clock. It was already past noon, so yeah it was probably time they all get up, but like this? Seriously? He looked up just in time to see Dayo pick up Isabelle, blankets and all and throw her over his shoulder, backing out of the room. “Let’s go.”

Isabelle began shrieking at the top of her lungs, sending everyone else stumbling out of their rooms one by one, except for Madeline. They all congregated in the hallway, looking over the banister out into the foyer as Dayo carried Isabelle down the huge, winding staircase. 

“Um…” Leven cleared her throat. “What the hell are you doing, Dayo?”

“If your name is Isabelle, Leven, Jackie, or Maddie, you have to leave.”

“What?”

Mark glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah, there’s no way Maddie is getting out of bed. She is dead to the world.”

“Girls! Out! Now!”

Finally, the girls reluctantly got dressed, throwing on huge sweatshirts over yoga pants and Uggs and tying their hair up, leaving the house while grumbling and complaining. As soon as they were out the door, Dayo slammed it shut, locking it behind them and whirling around.

“Listen up. Alex, mashed potatoes. Marcus, stuffing. Jack, vegetables. I’m gonna do the turkey and dessert. And everything else, because let’s face it, y’all aren’t going to be able to do anything.”

Mark shrugged. “You’re probably right.” 

Alex snorted, and Mark just looked at him. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Dayo was right, as usual – only twenty minutes after they started getting everything together, Alex, Mark, and Jack ended up in the living room, watching football (and also the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, but Mark made them swear not to mention that in front of Madeline). “Thanks for your help!” Dayo yelled from the kitchen, as he was running around, frantically doing things.

All three guys turned around at once, looking back at him. “Really?” Alex said, smirking. “Because I just touched the turkey and you hit my hand and told me to get out and never come back. Which seemed like an overreaction, but what do I know?”

Jack agreed. “Yeah, I was doing the absolute best I could do, literally the best possible job I’ve ever done, and you told me I was a waste of space.”

“I wasn’t really doing anything, so you were probably right to kick me out.” Mark changed the channel. 

“I’m kind of stressed,” Dayo snapped, slamming the oven door shut. “So sue me.”

“If I could, I would.”

“You’re doing a great job, man,” Jack said, throwing a pillow behind him where it skidded into the kitchen. Dayo immediately chucked it back, muttering curse words under his breath. 

“The three of you can fuck right off.”

Four hours later, Dayo was nearing a nervous breakdown, but dinner was almost ready, and he instructed the boys to text the girls and tell them to come back. They stomped into the house, glaring at the boys and going straight upstairs to change.

When they finally came back down, all four them plus Dayo had finally calmed down, the rest of the boys busying themselves with setting the table so that Dayo didn’t actually stab one of them in the eye with a meat thermometer. They tried to actually make it look nice with candles and real napkins and the white plates with the gold trim that Dayo warned them to be very careful with or else. 

Alex was glad they actually put some effort into it because when the girls (finally) made their way downstairs, he caught one look of Isabelle and stopped breathing for just a second. She was wearing a long sleeved, low backed, incredibly short dress with stripes of black and gold, and her hair was down and loose around her shoulders, swept to one side. He went bounding over to her immediately, lifting her up and swinging her around.

“Holy shit,” he whispered in her ear, kissing her on the cheek. “You look…”

“That bad, huh?” She smiled at him.

“Good Lord.”

They all sat down around the table, Alex pulling Isabelle’s chair out for her and just barely dodging the bullet of falling on the floor when Dayo tried to pull his chair out from under him, in retaliation for Alex flinging a spoonful of mashed potatoes at his head when he wouldn’t stop hovering, Alex was sure.

“It looks really good, Dayo,” Madeline said, pulling the biscuits towards her. “Did you do this all by yourself?”

“Yes,” Dayo said, as the other boys said “no” simultaneously. 

“You absolutely did not do this all by yourself,” Alex said. “Look at how perfect these mashed potatoes are.”

Madeline pushed the biscuits over to Jackie, who was sitting right next to her, muttering something to her under her breath as she did. Upon hearing it, Jackie eased the turkey away from Madeline ever so slightly.

“Can I have the butter please?” Jackie asked. It was sitting right in front of Jack, who didn’t look up. “Jack. Butter.” He still didn’t move, and Jackie stood up, reaching across the table and grabbing it. “What the hell is your problem?”

Finally – finally – he acknowledged her. It had been three and a half weeks since they had exchanged even one word. “What is my problem?” He looked up. “Do you really think this is a conversation we should be having right now?”

“Stop,” Leven hissed at Jackie, trying to pull her down into her chair. “Don’t fucking do this.”

“Do what?” Madeline asked, looking around. “What the heck is happening?”

Isabelle looked at Alex, who just shrugged.

Jackie looked down at Leven, and they had an incredibly fast, completely silent conversation. Jackie started to sit down, but apparently now that Jack had started, he wasn’t going to quit. “You’re the one running around here keeping huge ass, massive, fucking ridiculous secrets from everyone, and you didn’t even tell me, and I thought we could tell each other everything, that’s what you said, that’s what we’ve done for years—”

“Jackie,” Madeline hissed. “What the hell is he talking about?”

Alex nudged Isabelle repeatedly, trying to get her to look at him. “What is she talking about?”

“I… I don’t have a clue.”

“Well, didn’t you know, Jack,” Mark said, interrupting his rant, “that’s what we do around here now. We keep secrets.”

“Okay…” Dayo looked around. “What are you on about now? Literally what the hell is going on?”

“You didn’t know?” Mark asked, his eyes glinting as the fire from the candles flickered off them. “Alex and Leven.”

Isabelle dropped her hand from where she had been resting it on Alex’s knee. “Alex and Leven? What about Alex and Leven?”

He just stared at her, mouth open, cheeks flushed. “I don’t… He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Oh, really?” Mark turned to Leven. “Why don’t you enlighten him?”

“Look.” She was staring down at the table, face even redder than Alex’s. “I didn’t mean to kiss him, it just kind of happened—”

Mass chaos broke out. “You did what?” Madeline shrieked, actually hitting Leven in the arm. “What the fuck?”

Mark was just sitting there with his mouth open, Jack and Dayo yelling at Alex, Madeline yelling at Leven, Jackie trying to get in the middle of them to calm them down, and Isabelle just staring at Alex. He shook his head. “Is, you have to believe me. I can explain everything, it’s not what you think, Mark really has no idea what he’s talking about.”

“I heard everything!” Mark could not shut his mouth. “I heard what she said! She wanted to hook up again and—”

“Shut up!” Leven shrieked at him, practically lunging across the table. “Just shut up!”

“The plates!” Dayo yelled, jumping up and racing around the table to slide place settings out of Leven’s way. “Not around the plates, Leven, god damn it!”

“Why didn’t you tell Isabelle?” Mark mocked, pushing his chair back and standing up. “I thought you guys were supposed to be best friends, or were you just faking that the whole time?”

“Oh yeah, I’m the fake one!” Leven screamed back. “The only reason you’re even bringing this up is because you’re dating Maddie now. It’s really none of your business to begin with but you want to act like the big shot, perfect boyfriend.”

Alex kept tapping Isabelle’s arm, trying to get her attention amid the chaos. “Can we go talk? Please? Somewhere away from all of this bullshit?”

Isabelle glanced over at him, looking back and forth between her boyfriend and the multiple fights that were breaking out all over the table. Leven was about two seconds away from strangling Mark to death, Madeline was yelling at Mark even though he wasn’t listening to a word she was saying, Jackie and Jack were still going at it, and Dayo was just running around screaming about plates. 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Alex followed Isabelle up to her room, and she thought again how surreal this was. She shut the door behind them, drowning out the noise of their friends downstairs. 

“What the hell is going on?” Alex started.

“You’re seriously asking me that right now? Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with you?”

“Look, Isabelle. Mark is full of shit. He really doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You have to believe me.”

She sat down on the edge of her bed, Alex following her lead. She pulled her legs up to her chest, facing him, staying just out of arm’s reach. To be honest, Isabelle wasn’t even mad – she couldn’t be, not yet at least. She had to at least listen to what he was saying, because the only thing she knew was that it had been such a shitstorm downstairs that who really knew what the truth was?

Alex continued. “At the party I went to go smoke and Leven was out in the woods and she was really messed up and she was going on about stuff, I don’t really know. And then she kissed me and I promise I did not kiss her back, I just got up and was going to find you when you find me instead.”

Isabelle nodded. “I believe you.”

“I’m… ah, I’m not quite done.”

She shook her head. “Of course not.”

“So then I slept at yours, as you remember. Cause you were there.”

“I was.”

“And then I went back to my room because I had to change before I went to the gym, and Leven was there, she was sitting on my bed, and she was talking a lot of shit, and Mark must have heard.”

“A lot of shit like what?”

“She wanted to get back together and then when I said no to that, she said that we should just… you know, hook up one more time, and then when I said no to that, she told me that she’s in love with me.”

“She what?”

“Look, Isabelle.” Alex reached out, scooting a little bit closer and taking Isabelle’s hand. He considered it a good sign that she didn’t pull away. “She’s… confused, I don’t know. She’s just jealous that I’m happy and that it’s with you, and… I don’t know. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. I just want you to trust me.”

Isabelle didn’t even have to think about it – it just took her one look at Alex’s face to know how she felt. He looked so sorry and so eager to please and so nervous that she knew he was telling the truth. “I do trust you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I promise, Isabelle… I won’t ever keep anything from you.”

At that, a pang of guilt shot through Isabelle’s stomach. She was keeping a huge secret from Alex, and eventually he was going to find out, both about the pregnancy and that she knew about it and didn’t say anything. She had to tell him, after he just told her all that stuff about Leven. She had to.

“Alex, I need to—”

But he stopped her, pushing her back and kissing her. “It’s okay,” he murmured against her mouth, slipping one hand over her stomach and gripping her hip. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m just really happy.”

“I am too,” she whispered back.

They were interrupted by the girls bursting through the door. “Get out, Alex!” Leven was still shrieking. He didn’t stop kissing Isabelle, completely blocking out the screaming. “Now, Alex!” Leven grabbed him by the back of his pants, pulling him off the bed and physically shoving him out the door, quite a feat considering the size difference.

“Okay,” he sulked through the door. “I will just go downstairs then.”

“Good!” Leven screamed. “You do that!”

Jackie threw herself down on the bed. “I am so fucking pissed off right now.”

Isabelle just stared at her. “You’re pissed off? I’m pissed off! What the fuck, Leven?”

“Okay.” Madeline held up her hands, trying to mediate as best she could. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions—”

“He told me everything! What the hell, why can’t you just let me happy?”

Leven rolled her eyes. “I really can’t deal with this right now.”

“Um, I did not start this!”

The conversation was starting to escalate to massive proportions again, and Isabelle didn’t want to get into another screaming fight like the one she had just escaped downstairs. “Okay, okay,” she interrupted as Leven opened her mouth. “Just forget it for now.”

“The real question is…” Madeline looked around. “Who all knows about the baby?”

Jackie and Leven glanced at each other, swallowing nervously. “Um…” Jackie started, looking everywhere but at Madeline. “The four of us.”

“And?”

“I’m not sure—”

“And?”

“Jack.”

To her credit, Madeline didn’t immediately start shrieking. She just stared at Jackie, resting her hand on her stomach. And then in a really quiet voice, “What?”

“Maddie, I’m so so sorry,” Jackie said, taking a step closer to her. “I’m so sorry, Leven and I were talking about it and then we looked over and he was standing there. I’m so sorry.”

Madeline just shook her head. “It is what it is. I’ll talk to him.”

“Right now?”

Madeline nodded, and Jackie immediately ran out of the room, returning with Jack who was grumbling incessantly. “Jackie, let go!” 

Jackie slammed the door shut behind him, standing in front of it like he was going to try to escape. “You know,” Madeline said simply. 

“I do.”

Isabelle looked at Jackie, who glanced over at Leven, and the three of them tried to inconspicuously slip out of the room, leaving Madeline and Jack to talk about everything.

“Well,” Isabelle said as they moved down the hallway, sitting down with their backs to the wall. “It was a really great Friendsgiving.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are tense between Mark and Alex, Dayo gets frustrated, the boys and their girlfriends go to the football banquet, and Isabelle fucks up.

Jack promised Madeline – swore up and down and on the lives of everything Madeline could think of – that he would not tell anyone her secret. Not Dayo, not Alex, not Josh or Liam. And especially not Mark.

That did not, however, mean that Jack forgave Jackie for keeping it from him. In fact, things between the two of them were worse than ever. And that was putting it lightly compared to the group dynamic – Alex and Mark were not talking; Alex and Leven were not talking; Leven and Isabelle were not talking; Jack and Jackie were not talking; and Dayo was still pissed at everyone for ruining Thanksgiving.

None of that really mattered to the guys at this point because State was two days away, and their days since coming back to school had been filled with team meetings, practice, workouts, and watching film. Alex, Mark, and Dayo were living, breathing, sleeping football. 

Their last heavy day of practice was two days before they were leaving for State, and it did not go well. “What the hell?” Alex took his helmet off, slamming it into Mark’s chest after they ran a play, Alex throwing a gorgeous pass that Mark didn’t manage to catch. “All you have to do is run your fucking route, and the ball will be there every time! Just run your god damn route!”

“You think I don’t know that?” Mark yelled back. “You’re only out for yourself, you don’t really give a fuck about this team. Why don’t you figure that out and work with me a little bit?”

Dayo come storming over, shoving his way in between his teammates. “You guys need to cut it out. Seriously. I know you’re pissed at each other, but this is bigger than you guys, this is bigger than whatever fight you’ve been in. This is about our school and this is about our team and this is about the fact that we’ve worked for months to get here, and over my dead body am I going to let the two of you ruin it because of some stupid ass misunderstanding.”

Coach came over, face steely. “Back to work, gentlemen.” Before they could walk away, he put a hand on Alex and Mark’s shoulders, looking them in the eye sternly. “Whatever is going on here, you need to work it out before this weekend. You will not bring this onto the field again. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood, Coach.” 

Alex pushed past Mark, hitting his shoulder hard, and one of his linemen tossed him the ball as they lined up on the forty to run another play. Somehow they got through the rest of practice, Mark and Alex barely tolerating each other, and as soon as it was over and they were released for the night, Mark took off out of the locker room, not showering, not talking to his teammates, not putting in an extra set at the gym like he had been doing all week, just leaving and slamming the door shut behind him.

Dayo sat down next to Alex on the bench, their backs to the lockers. Alex was nursing a tender muscle in his neck, still sore from taking a sack in their last game. It was flaring up every now and then, making it next to impossible for him to turn his head in a certain direction. He was holding an ice pack on it when Dayo came over, jostling his arm as he collapsed next to him. 

“What the hell is going on with you and Mark?”

Alex just stared at him. “You were at Thanksgiving. You heard everything.”

“Oh, yes, pardon me. It’s just that you guys aren’t so coherent when everyone is screaming at each other and apparently I’m the last one to know everything.”

“You’re not the last one to know everything.”

“Oh really? I was the last one to know that time you guys lost Madeline at the zoo. I was the last one to know when Leven saw Tom Brady in New York. I was the last one to know that Jackie had a crush on you when she was a fetus freshman.”

“She what?”

Dayo smirked. “You’re right… Looks like I’m not always the last.”

Alex brushed it off. “We’ll deal with that later.”

“For right now, just explain to me what’s going on. Because you know we can’t go into the game like this. We’ll get our asses handed to us.”

“I know.” Alex sighed. He spilled the entire story to Dayo, right there in the locker room. He told him how Leven was messed up at the party and what she did. He told him about Leven showing up in his room the next morning, what she said, and how he didn’t do anything. He told Dayo that he really liked Isabelle, that he would never do anything to jeopardize their relationship, and that Mark had it wrong.

“Well did you try to explain it to him?”

“Of course. But he’s just really pissed off. He’s not listening. And I don’t understand why he is so mad, it’s not like I did anything to him.”

“You’d think since he started dating Maddie, he would have chilled out just a little.”

“You’d think.”

Dayo stood up, throwing his bag over his shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”

Alex shrugged the ice pack off his shoulder, rolling it around gingerly. “I was thinking about going to the gym. I was going to try to get in like three more sets of cleans every day until we leave.”

Dayo shook his head. “You can’t. You’re going to hurt your shoulder even more, are you crazy?”

Alex leaned his head back against the lockers. “I have to.”

Dayo looked hesitant to leave, but he also knew how Alex got when he was in this mindset – no one could tell him what to do and he was never wrong. Plus he was already pissed off to begin with, so Dayo figured it would be best to avoid a confrontation for now. “Okay.” He fist bumped Alex, backing out of the room and into the hallway. “Text me when you’re done. Or if you need help or something.”

“Will do.” Alex cracked his neck. “See you.”

**IsabelleFuhrman: Do you want to come over?  
** **AlexanderLudwig: Sorry, babe, gotta hit the gym. Wish I could!  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Okay, have fun! Be careful.  
** **AlexanderLudwig: Always.**

**DayoOkeniyi: Meet me at the Circle. We need to talk.**

“Explain to me why we always have to have our serious talks out in the middle of the woods in the middle of fucking winter?”

Dayo had to admit this was not one of his best ideas, but it was too late to go back now. He had met Mark out in the woods after he left Alex after practice, figuring that by now Mark would be cooled down and ready to talk about what was going on. There was no way in hell that Dayo was going to go into the biggest game of the year, and possibly of their high school careers, with his two best friends, who also happened to be the starting quarterback and wide receiver, not speaking to each other. There was no way.

“Because this is ending tonight.” Dayo sat down on a log, glaring at Mark until he sat down facing him. 

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“The Alex thing?”

“Yeah, the Alex thing. You know how important this game is. And he told me his side of it. So now I’m going to hear yours.”

Mark shook his head. “There’s nothing to hear. It’s just… it is what it is. Isabelle is Maddie’s sister. I have to look out for her too now. And I feel like Alex is going to fuck her over, and that isn’t cool with me.”

“Look.” Dayo leaned forward. “First of all, you should be talking to Alex about this. I know you won’t, but you should because it’s a lot different than you think. Second of all, I know you like Maddie a lot, and that’s good, and I’m happy for you. But she isn’t your responsibility to look after and neither is Isabelle. So don’t beat yourself up if something happens that you cannot control.” Mark opened his mouth, but Dayo pushed onwards. “Third of all, Alex really really really like Isabelle. Really likes her. And he did not do anything with Leven, and he was not going to do anything with Leven, and he told her to stop and to leave him alone. So I don’t know what has made you so mad, but you’ve got to talk to him and you’ve got to let it go. Before I kill the both of you.” 

Mark dropped his head into his hands, shaking it back and forth slowly. “I didn’t mean to put all his business out like that on Thanksgiving. I feel bad for that.”

“As you should.” Dayo glowered at him, clearly still grumpy about how Thanksgiving had turned out.

After the big fight, everyone had stormed off in different directions. Mark left for a while, apparently just walking around New York City on the night of Thanksgiving to try to cool off. Dayo had cleaned up everything, shouting the entire time about how no one appreciated him and they should count themselves lucky if he even deigned to look in their direction anymore. Madeline and Jack were locked away upstairs, talking for a long time before they finally came out, having come to an agreement. The rest of the girls circled each other coldly, Isabelle not looking in Leven’s direction and still not sure why Jackie had been keeping secrets from her, including the fact that Jack knew about the pregnancy and that she herself knew what Leven had tried to do with Alex. As for Alex, he had set himself up in the living room, waiting for Isabelle to finally come downstairs and rub his back until he passed out, exhausted. They had ridden the train back to New York in almost complete silence. 

“I didn’t mean to start everything,” Mark said, looking up. He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in weeks, the skin under his eyes a dark purple. “Although technically Jack and Jackie started it.”

“What is with them?”

“I don’t know. I tried to ask, but he just yelled at me until I finally quit.”

“I know they always fight about stuff, but it’s never… real. This was real.” 

The two boys were silent for a long time until finally Mark spoke up. “I’ll talk to him. To Alex, I mean. I’ll get our stuff worked out. But I can’t speak for everyone else.”

“It’s a good start at least.”

**MadelineFuhrman: Are you ready?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Let’s do it. See y’all there.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Did the boys work everything out?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Not yet. They will though. Dayo said he took care of it. So I’m sure everything will be fine.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: You know Lev is going with Dayo right?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: I kind of figured. Whatever… She’s easy to ignore.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Play nice, Isabelle.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: I will if she will.**

The football banquet had been a tradition for a long time – long before the Wolf Pack played there, long before their brothers or fathers or grandfathers had played there. It happened every year, no matter how good or how bad the season was, but it was always extra special if they were going to State. Everyone dressed up, everyone brought dates, everyone ate a lot of really expensive food, and everyone got extra pumped to bring home the trophy.

Jackie helped Isabelle get ready, which was actually really good, because it gave them a chance to finally talk, just the two of them, about what all went down. Isabelle knew she couldn’t be mad Jackie – even if there had been a good reason, there was no way she could stay angry with her. And there was no good reason. Isabelle understood everything completely – Jackie had been friends with Leven for a long time, and Leven had come to Jackie with something that she had wanted kept secret. Everything was cool, at least with the two of them.

Isabelle had floated the idea of Jackie going with Dayo, but Jackie immediately refused, saying that she was tired and just needed a night to herself. She was lying, of course – all she was going to do was sit around and mope about Jack. And as much as Isabelle needed her best friend by her side, she knew Jackie was torn up about everything, and she was heartbroken that she couldn’t do anything to change what had happened.

So Jackie finished doing Isabelle’s makeup, told her she looked beautiful, and rushed her out the door so she wouldn’t be late. Isabelle promised her that she wouldn’t be back too late, and that Jackie should text her if she needed anything and she would leave immediately.

“I’m fine, Isabelle. You just have fun.”

Isabelle wanted to say more but she knew it wouldn’t change anything. She would deal with Jack as soon as State was over and everyone could relax for a few weeks before they had to start worrying about finals.

To her surprise, Alex and Mark were standing together as she and Madeline approached them outside the doors to the banquet hall. The last she heard, they still weren’t talking, although Dayo had told her that he’d talked to them and everything was going to be okay. She wasn’t really sure what Dayo’s definition of okay was, so she hadn’t been holding out any hope. 

Alex nudged Mark as the girls came up to them, gingerly picking their way across the Common in their high heeled shoes. “Your girl looks good,” he said, hitting him on the back.

Mark shook his head, smirking. “Damn, they’ve got good genes.”

After Dayo had yelled at them both individually, they spent another awkward night in their room, completely ignoring each other, silence engulfing everything. That lasted all night and into the next day, until Dayo showed up at seven in the morning, banging on their door and shouting, waking up the entire dorm.

“Let me in this instant!” he yelled until Alex finally woke up enough to roll out of bed and throw the door open.

“What. The fuck. Do you want.” 

Dayo shouldered past him into the room, flicking the lights on and yanking Mark’s blankets away from him, leaving him shivering and swearing. “I want you to figure this out right this second. Because I can’t deal with it anymore, and if I’m tired of it, I’m sure you are too.”

Alex and Mark looked at each other for the first time in two weeks, but neither of them said anything. Dayo yanked their desk chairs into the center of the room, facing each other a few feet apart. He pulled Alex and Mark over, roughly sitting them down and keeping them there with a hand on each of their shoulders. “I told you to work this out. And you did not. So now we’re going to do this together. And I guarantee you by the time you walk out of this room everything will be back to normal, or so help me, God.”

Because they were guys, and because they had been best friends for years, and because they both wanted to apologize and get this behind them for multiple reasons, including the fact that they were going to State, that their girlfriends were sisters, and that they knew the whole thing was stupid to begin with, it only took about five minutes before everything was okay. Alex told Mark his side of the story, Mark apologized for Thanksgiving, and everything was back to normal. 

“God, I’m good,” Dayo said, cracking his neck. “I’m gonna just go around and get everyone back together.”

“Well, you’ve got a long road ahead of you then,” Alex said, snorting. He rubbed his neck absentmindedly. “Everyone hates each other right now.”

“At least our girls aren’t mad at us.” Mark shrugged, and Alex grinned, fist bumping him. 

“For once.”

“Tell me about it.”

They spent the morning in a team meeting, watching game film, and the afternoon at the gym and the trainer’s. Alex sat in an ice bath as long as he could physically stand it, and then had the team’s chiropractor work on his neck for a good forty-five minutes until he could at least turn it without punching someone. Mark and Dayo did clean sets until they couldn’t stand up anymore, and then they went back to their rooms to get ready for the banquet. In the midst of all of that, none of them had been checking their phones and none of them had told the girls that everything was okay, at least with them.

“Hey,” Alex said, grabbing Isabelle around the waist as soon as she got in arm’s reach, and immediately leaned down, burying his face in the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder, breathing in her perfume. “You look… really, really good.”

“Good enough to be the quarterback’s girlfriend?” She pulled back just enough to look him in the eye, smiling. 

“Oh, honey.” He shook his head, tightening his arms around her waist. “You’re way too good for me.”

“That’s true,” Madeline called back over her shoulder.

“No one asked you, Fuhrman.”

The four of them walked into the banquet hall together, the boys in tuxes, Isabelle in a silver mini dress, legs bare and hair tied up, Madeline in a long, dark green, maxi dress that floated around her legs and left her entire back exposed, hair loose around her shoulders. They looked so alike that from the back Alex could barely tell them apart, something he had figured out very quickly in his relationship with Isabelle, accidentally grabbing Madeline from behind a time or two and getting a swift knee to the crotch for his troubles. 

They were bombarded by the rest of their teammates the second they walked inside, the banquet hall dotted with large, circular tables covered in cloth tablecloths, candles, and chinaware. It seemed like a dangerous environment for sixty incredibly hyper football players, but to tell the truth, Alex was more worried a fight was going to break out between Isabelle and Leven than any of the players themselves.

Alex hadn’t spoken one word to Leven since the debacle at the Thanksgiving table, hadn’t even looked her way. To her credit, she hadn’t tried to say anything to him. He was so angry that she had immediately tried to ruin his relationship, the first relationship he had ever had that made him so happy. And if she was really his friend, he felt like she should respect him and what he wanted. And clearly, she did not.

He had apologized to Isabelle over and over, but because she was Isabelle she brushed off the entire thing, repeatedly telling him that it was okay, he didn’t do anything wrong, none of it was his fault.

Really, he didn’t know how he had gotten so lucky.

Dayo came rushing over immediately, Leven trailing along behind him. She was wearing a bright red dress with a plunging neckline and was doing everything she could not to look at Alex and Isabelle. As soon as she got up to them, she pulled Madeline away.

Dayo put his arms around Alex and Mark, squishing Isabelle in the middle of the three of them. “Aren’t you so glad we’re all friends again?”

“I was never not friends,” Isabelle said, trying to worm her way out of the circle. “But I am really uncomfortable with my body temperature right now.”

“I really enjoy your body temperature, to be quite honest,” Alex said, smirking. She punched him in the stomach, and he pretended like it hurt him, just so she would laugh. God, he was so gone.

After everyone had run around saying hello and seeing who they had all managed to convince to accompany them, Coach got up on stage, telling everyone to sit down, shut up, and start eating so that he could begin the night. It was one surefire way to get sixty football players to shut up – give them all food. Alex guided Isabelle over to their table, where they were set up with Mark and Madeline, Liam and Jen, and (of course) Dayo and Leven. In case things weren’t awkward enough already.

Alex was just thanking God that he and Mark had made up because otherwise this would be a living hell.

“First of all,” Coach was saying from the podium, “I find it necessary to say how proud I am of all of you.” Alex looked up from where he was trying to steal the bread roll off of Madeline’s plate without her noticing, Leven rolling her eyes across the table. “You have all put in an unbelievable effort this season, on the field, during practice, and at the gym. And I know that no matter what happens, you are all champions because you did not give up.”

Alex looked at Mark. Throughout the entire season, Mark had been his backbone. Whenever a pass had left his hand, he knew Mark would be there to catch it. Whenever he needed someone to spot him in the gym, he knew he could ask Mark and he would be there every time. When he needed someone to push him, it was Mark. When he was hurt so badly or so exhausted he could barely stand, he knew Mark would be right by his side, pulling him up, supporting him, telling him that they were going to win, that they were going to make it to the end and come out on top.

He felt Isabelle slide her hand over his knee, keeping it there the entire time Coach was talking, through the highlight reels, and while awards were being announced. Mark and Dayo both got trophies, Mark for Most Touchdowns Scored and Dayo for Biggest Block. Alex also raked one in for clocking the most hours at the gym.

And then they got to the last award, the Heart of the Lion award. “This award goes to the person who has held this team together,” Coach said, pointing to the last trophy, the biggest one out of all of them. “This player has not only given his best effort on and off the field, but has encouraged all of his teammates to do the same. He has been a leader and a motivator, someone to look up to when it seems like you can’t give anymore.”

Alex had his mouth full of cheesecake and was trying to figure out how he could swipe Jen’s piece when he heard Coach say, “And that person is… Alexander Ludwig.”

It didn’t register in his brain until Isabelle patted him on the back, gently pushing him out of his chair. “Baby, go up there.”

He looked back at her, and he could see the huge smile on his face, Dayo and Mark grinning next to her. “Dude, go!”

**IsabelleFuhrman: Are you doing okay, sweetie?  
** **JacquelineEmerson: Yeah, yeah I’m good.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Are you sure? I can come back.  
** **JacquelineEmerson: Isabelle.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: I know, I know. See you later.**

“I’m so proud of you.” Isabelle was hovering over Alex, who was sitting on a log, murmuring his ear and kissing his neck. “So, so proud of my quarterback.”

“You guys are so disgusting.” Madeline was laughing, really laughing, for the first time since Thanksgiving, covering her eyes with her hands as Mark pulled her closer, wrapping a blanket tighter around her shoulders as they did their best to ignore Isabelle and Alex.

After the banquet ended, they chose to go out to the Circle and have a drink – just one, because the boys couldn’t risk getting drunk since they had to leave early the next morning. Leven reluctantly came along, a weird vibe in the air, but once they got out there it was almost like everything was back to normal.

“You guys need to stop,” Dayo said, throwing a stick in Alex’s direction, but he didn’t even look over, sliding his arms around Isabelle’s back, under his suit jacket which he put over her shoulders as soon as they stepped outside. “Okay.” He cleared his throat, finally breaking the two of them up. “Let’s make a toast.”

Alex detached himself from Isabelle for two seconds, raising his beer in the air, everyone else following suit. “To what?”

“To you guys,” Isabelle said. “The three of us,” she glanced at Madeline, and then very quickly at Leven, “and everyone else have seen how hard you’ve been working. We’ve all seen that you’ve given everything you have, until you don’t have anything left to give. You guys deserve this.”

Alex grinned up at his girlfriend. “Babe.”

“So,” she continued. “Everyone raise your beers, not Madeline of course, but everyone else, to—”

“Why not Madeline?” Dayo asked, looking at her.

Everyone froze. Alex thought that he could feel Isabelle literally turn a few degrees colder in his arms. “I… uh…” For the first time ever since he had met her, she didn’t know what to say. Isabelle always knew what to say. And she was completely speechless.

“Why can’t Madeline drink?” Alex asked her.

Isabelle gaped at her sister. “Oh my God, I – I’m so—”

Mark cut her off. “No.”

Madeline was staring down at the ground, her gaze unflinching. She didn’t look at anyone, but it was possible even in the dark to see how red her cheeks were and the tears that were coming down them. 

“Maddie,” he asked her gently. She still didn’t look up. “Maddie, are you pregnant?”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark opens up, Alex and Mark have surprise visitors, Madeline and Mark finally talk, and everyone cheers on the boys at State.

It was an early morning for Dalton’s football players – they had to be on the team bus at six in the morning, bags packed, and ready to go. This was an especially challenging feat for Dayo, Mark, and Alex, considering the night they had had. Alex wasn’t sure Mark had slept at all, even though he had spent an hour trying to convince him that he needed sleep, that the most important game of their lives was coming up and sitting around worrying wasn’t going to help anything.

After Isabelle had accidentally spilled the news, all hell broke loose. Isabelle started crying, Madeline’s tears escalated into a straight panic attack, and Leven just sat there, completely frozen, eyes wide, unsure of what to do. Alex tried his best to console Isabelle – clearly this had been a secret the girls had known for a while, and clearly she had not spilled it on purpose. After Madeline confirmed that yes, Mark was correct, he didn’t say a word, almost like he had been paralyzed. He just sat there, rubbing Madeline’s back as Dayo and Leven tried to calm her down.

Eventually, Madeline told Mark to just go home and go to bed, and they would talk when State was over. He did the first part of what she asked him to do, reluctantly following Alex back to their room and letting the girls take care of Madeline. But he didn’t go to bed, pacing the room for hours and hours until Alex, exhausted, finally fell asleep. 

When they got on the bus, everyone was completely silent. It was always like this when they were on their way to away games, and it was compounded by how huge this game was for them. Everyone was focused on their plays, their game, their performance. Alex fell asleep almost immediately, sitting next to Mark. They were playing at Lincoln Financial, which was where the Eagles played, and it was about an hour away, so Alex figured he should get as much sleep as possible. 

He hadn’t gotten much of a chance to talk to Isabelle after everything went down. He had been texting her before he fell asleep, but all she said was that she’d known for a while but Madeline wasn’t planning on telling Mark until after State was over. Alex not only understood that, but he respected it – and he knew how horrible Isabelle felt for accidentally spilling the secret ahead of schedule.

Alex definitely hadn’t processed it yet – he couldn’t imagine how Mark was feeling. He had only been dating Madeline for a few weeks, and now he was going to have to think about the fact that he was going to be a dad. He and Madeline were going to have a child. Holy shit. Alex couldn’t even think about it for more than a few seconds without practically having a panic attack. 

He jerked awake as they were pulling into the roundabout of the hotel, a nice place in downtown Philadelphia. He immediately looked at Mark, who looked even more exhausted than he had when they got on the bus. “Are you doing okay?”

Mark shrugged. “I don’t really know how to answer that question, to be honest.”

Alex started to say something, but was cut off by Coach herding them all off the bus and into the lobby. “We’ll talk about it later tonight, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Coach split them up, handing out room assignments and keys as they all made their way into the lobby, looking around at the high ceilings and huge chandeliers and the big fountain spitting water in the middle of the room. The hotel stretched up around them, balconies lining each floor, looking down onto the lobby. 

Mark and Alex lugged their bags up to their room. They had a couple of hours to rest and eat before they had to go to the stadium to do a walkthrough. Alex sat down on his bed, throwing his bag on a chair. Mark sat down opposite him. “So.”

“So.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Mark let out a huge sigh, his face pale, skin under his eyes dark, almost like it was bruised. “I know I can’t let it get to me right now. We’ve worked way too hard to get distracted now.”

Alex just nodded, knowing he was going to have to listen while Mark talked this out, because nothing he could say was going to make it any easier.

“But how do you just let something like this go? How do you block it out of your brain?”

“I don’t—”

“This is huge. I mean it’s life changing. And I need to talk to her about it. But she won’t. And I get that, it’s big for her too and I know we both have to think about it. But I’ve got a lot of questions.”

“Like what?”

“Well, what about college? What’s going to happen then? And how are we going to take care of it if we’re still in high school? Like where is it going to live, because it can’t fucking live in my dorm. What are we gonna do, stick it in a drawer or something? No, babies need shit, like a lot of shit. And I guess I need to ask her if she even wants to be with me now, like maybe she doesn’t. Maybe she doesn’t want me involved at all.”

“Yeah, that’s a lot of stuff to deal with.”

“Also, I want to know, like… how long has she known? How long has she been dealing with this on her own? And why didn’t she feel like she could have come to me with it? Because she could have. She should know that, don’t you think?”

“Well—”

“I really like her. And I’ll be there for her no matter what. I’ll be there for her even if she doesn’t want me around. I just want to know what she wants. I need her to tell me what she wants.”

**JenniferLawrence: I got into Dartmouth!!!  
** **MackenzieLintz: KILLIN’ IT.  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Congrats, Jen!  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Nice job, bb.  
** **LevenRambin: !!!!!**

 

Alex honestly could not believe where he was standing. He had been playing football his entire life – he started when he was five years old, before he could even really remember. He’d seen pictures of baby Alex in his tiny little helmet that was still way too big for his head. He knew by the time he was ten that all he wanted to do was play football, and he knew he would be playing for Dalton soon after that. 

So to be here, in the stadium where so many great football players had stood, standing on turf that had seen hundreds of professional football games, was a dream come true. It didn’t matter what was going on in their personal lives – to be honest, it could have been Isabelle who was pregnant and he would still be completely consumed by football in this moment.

When they had emerged from the tunnel, the sky bright and blue above their heads even though it was unnervingly cold, a cold that took your breath away the second you stepped into it, Alex was speechless. The grass stretched out green in front of them, the goal posts standing tall at each end of the field, the huge stadium full of seats rising up around them.

There were reporters everywhere, swarming the field and pulling players aside. Alex was instantly surrounded, and he answered all the questions as best as he could, still completely awestruck. He tried to keep track of Mark, a little worried that he wouldn’t be in any state to talk to anyone, but once he caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye, calmly answering questions, he realized that he couldn’t so worried, at least not right now. Mark was a big boy. 

They were all going to be fine.

When Coach had finally ushered all the reporters out of the stadium, leaving the team alone, they gathered at the fifty yard line, taking a knee. Coach stood in the center of their circle, letting the silence wash over them before he started talking. Honestly, Alex wasn’t really listening – he just knelt there with his head down, looking at the grass and going over and over in his head about his game and how he wanted this season to end.

He had worked really hard to get here. They all had. They deserved this. But he also knew that Triton, who they were playing tomorrow, would be the toughest team they had ever faced. Their defensive line averaged three hundred pounds – they were bigger, faster, and stronger than any of Dalton’s players. Dayo was going to be taking some huge hits, as would Mark if he wasn’t careful. Alex had to hold this team together. And he was worried about falling apart very publicly, in front of his family, in front of Isabelle, in front of people he cared about.

When Coach was done talking, he let them go, telling them they all had to be in bed by ten (“Someone will be checking on you, boys, so don’t think you can get away with staying out after curfew like I know you all do at normal away games.”), and they all left the stadium, walking out through the tunnel and the locker rooms.

Alex and Mark didn’t say anything on the way back to the hotel, neither of them uttering a word until Mark opened the door to their room. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Alex pushed past him to see Isabelle and Madeline, Isabelle grinning hugely and Madeline looking apprehensive. “Belle!”

Isabelle jumped up, running towards him and taking a flying leap. He managed to catch her at the last second, still shocked to see her here in his room, holding onto her tight as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Belle… you guys, what are you doing here?”

She pulled back from where she had buried her head in the crook of his neck. “I just wanted to see you before the game, and we wanted it to be a surprise.” She hesitated. “Is this okay?”

Alex held onto her even tighter. “Of course!”

Behind them, Mark hadn’t moved – he was just staring at Madeline, who was just staring back at him, eyebrows raised, still sitting on his bed. “Hey,” she finally said, Alex and Isabelle not paying any attention to them at this point.

“Hey.”

“Do you want to go somewhere?”

“Yeah.”

They left Alex and Isabelle alone in the room, silently making their way out of the room and downstairs to the hotel lobby. Mark wanted to go outside in case any of his teammates were wandering around somewhere, but the end of November in Philadelphia was way too cold to be having serious talks that did not take place indoors. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, sitting down opposite Madeline, a glass coffee table with a vase full of towering flowers sitting atop it in between them. 

She looked exceedingly nervous, feeding the hem of her shirt in between her fingers, not really looking Mark in the eye. “I’m good.” Finally – finally – she looked up. “How are you?”

He shrugged, flipping the hood of his sweatshirt up over his snapback. “I just have a lot of questions.”

Madeline nodded, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other. “Go ahead. Ask whatever you want.”

Mark sighed. “I don’t know… I don’t even know where to start really.”

“Okay. Well. Let me just… run through everything for you. Okay?”

He nodded.

“It must have happened one of the first times we… you know, back in the middle of August. I started suspecting it at the beginning of October, and I found out for sure like the week before Halloween, and then I told the rest of the girls the day before Halloween.”

Mark nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She swallowed. “I just didn’t want to interrupt your life. I knew you had State coming up, and I wanted you to be able to focus on that and have fun and just enjoy it, and not have to worry about something like this.”

“Maddie.” Mark got up, coming over to Madeline’s couch and sitting down next to her, closer than they had been since he found out about the pregnancy. He put his one hand around her shoulder, grabbing her fingers with his other hand. “What’s bumming me out most about this is not that… you know, you’re pregnant. I’m not worried about that at all.”

Madeline just stared at him. “Well… shouldn’t you be? I mean, we have a lot to figure out.”

“I know. But what hurt me the most is that you didn’t tell me. You kept it a secret, and I just hope you know that you can come to me with anything, no matter what.”

“I do know that. I was just trying to think about you and what was best for you.”

“You are best for me.”

Almost instantly, Madeline started crying, silent tears that slipped down her cheeks and fell onto her shirt. “We just have so much to decide. I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mom.”

Mark leaned in, crushing her against his chest. She cried into his shoulder for a long time, people sweeping through the lobby around them, everything seeming to stand still except for the two of them. “We don’t have to decide anything right now, Maddie,” he said, gently stroking her hair. “Right now just know that I’m here for you and we are going to be okay.”

They talked for a long time about everything – whether her parents knew (no), whether she had decided when she was going to tell them (no – “Let’s just wait for it to come out and then it can tell them.”), whether she wanted to keep it (“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”), and whether she wanted to stay together (“Of course.”).

“Are you sure?”

Madeline kissed him, a couple of the football players making hooting noises as they ran through the lobby. “It’s almost curfew!” one of them yelled back over his shoulder, almost slamming straight into the closed elevator door. “Move it, Reardon.”

“I’m so sure,” she whispered to him, patting him on the chest and standing up, pulling him up after her.

“Be careful, the baby!” he hissed, and she laughed.

“It’s okay. Like you said, Mark… everything is going to be okay.”

**LevenRambin: Are you here?  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Is and Jackie and I are in our room. Do you want to come over?  
** **LevenRambin: Um… no.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Come on. The two of you have to talk eventually.  
** **LevenRambin: Maybe. But it isn’t going to be tonight.  
** **MadelineFuhrman: Okay, I understand.**

**SharleneLudwig: Good luck tomorrow, sweetheart! Dad and I are here and we’re going to take you out to dinner after the game if that’s okay.  
AlexanderLudwig: Of course! Can’t wait.**

 

Alex and Mark woke before their alarm clock for possibly the first time ever in the three years they had been living across the room from each other. Alex woke up at six, and rolled over to see Mark staring at the ceiling, completely unmoving and focused on whatever the heck was going through his head. “You good?”

Mark looked over at him, his voice heavy with sleep. “I’m good.”

“You and Maddie?”

Mark smiled. “Good. Really good actually.”

“Ready for today?”

“As much as I’ll ever be.”

They got up, showered, and dressed in almost complete silence, jeans and dress shirts, tying each other’s ties and heading downstairs for breakfast. Most of the guys were already sitting there in the hotel’s dining room, many of them yawning or chugging coffee. No one was saying anything and barely anyone was eating, even though they definitely should be. It was a different vibe than any other normal away game – usually breakfast was crazy when they were all at a hotel, people yelling, throwing things, and making fun of each other. But today, nothing.

Alex could barely get down his coffee, and as soon as he did, he instantly felt like he was going to throw up. Mark wasn’t drinking his, just staring into his cup. Dayo had his head in his hands, and Liam was absentmindedly buttering a waffle, pushing it around his plate. Coach and the assistant coaches were sitting at a smaller, separate table, muttering over playbooks and their notes.

It was game day, the biggest game Alex had ever played by far, and in a few hours, it would all be over.

After spending all morning in team meetings and hanging out with their position coaches, getting last minute advice, they got to the stadium at two o’clock, giving them two hours to get changed and warm up before kickoff. Coach immediately set Alex up in front of the athletic trainer, who poked and prodded and iced his neck until he was convinced that Alex would be okay to play. 

Once they were all dressed and ready to go, sitting around the benches in the locker room, looking up at the greatness around them, Coach started to speak. It was everything Alex expected – and needed – him to say: they deserved this, they had worked for this, they could win not because they were the best or the most talented but because they were better conditioned, better trained, and better prepared. 

After he was done and everyone was about to get up to run out the tunnel, Coach asked Alex if he wanted to say anything. He stood up, holding his helmet in one hand. “I just want to say…” He looked around at everyone, all of his teammates who were staring up at him expectantly. “Thank you all for everything. And if this is it for us, I am really glad I have all of you by my side.” They all jumped up, getting pumped up to run out onto the field. Alex stood by the door leading to the tunnel, slapping each one of them on the back as they passed. As soon as the last player ran by him, he fell into line, the bright lights of the field looming ahead of them.

**JacquelineEmerson: Are you coming??? Kick off in five minutes!  
** **LevenRambin: Yeah I took a nap but I fell asleep without setting my alarm. I’m just walking in. Where are you??  
** **JacquelineEmerson: Fifty yard line, like three rows up. We saved you a seat.  
** **LevenRambin: Is Isabelle with you guys?  
** **JacquelineEmerson: Be nice, Rambin. You’re my best friend but I’ll still rip your eyes right out, don’t think I won’t.  
** **LevenRambin: I know, I know.**

“Leven is on her way up,” Jackie said, shoving her phone back into her coat pocket. All of the girls were bundled up in winter jackets, gloves, and beanies, hand warmers in their pockets and noses buried in the warmth of their scarves. 

Isabelle didn’t say anything, just huddled a little closer to Madeline, closing her eyes against the biting wind. She felt bad for the boys, who were about to have to run around and get hit in this freezing cold.

“Do you think the baby is cold?” Jen asked conversationally, and Isabelle burst out laughing.

“Not so loud, lady,” Madeline hissed to her, elbowing her in the side hard enough for Jen to feel even through her layers of sweaters and coats. 

“I was just wondering!”

The stands were packed with students, alumni, and parents. This was a big deal for everyone – even Isabelle and Madeline’s parents had texted that morning from Europe to say that they wished they could be there and to say good luck to Mark and Alex. 

Telling their parents that they both had boyfriends had been an ordeal for the girls, to say the least. As much as Madeline had slutted it up her first couple years at Dalton, as Isabelle put it, she had never officially dated anyone, and neither had Isabelle, so it had been a little nerve wracking to tell Nick and Elina. True to form, their parents were cool about it, not really reacting at all. They just said okay, and that hopefully they would see the boys over Christmas break. They already knew who they were, of course – all the alumni parents knew each other, and the Ludwigs were some of Nick and Elina’s closest friends, even though they only got to see each other at alumni banquets and school events. 

“There she is!” Jackie jumped up, waving her scarf in the air as Leven made her way up the stairs towards them. “Lev!”

“I think she sees us,” Isabelle muttered, burying her head in Madeline’s shoulder, covering her face with her sister’s scarf. 

“Be nice,” Jackie hissed back at her, sitting down as Leven pushed her way past all the people sitting down in the row until she reached them, smack in the middle. “Thank God,” Jackie said to her as she sat down in the empty seat between Jackie and Mackenzie. “I’ve been saving this seat forever.”

“Forever.” Leven snorted. “When did y’all get here?”

“It feels like forever,” Madeline said, looking up at here. “Hi, boo.”

“Hi.” Leven looked at Isabelle. “Hey, Is.” Isabelle didn’t say anything back – she just nodded at her. “Jackie, where’s Jack?”

Jackie shot Leven a death glare. “I don’t fucking know. And I don’t really care.”

Leven looked shocked. “You’re still not talking?”

“What do you think?”

“I hate that.” Madeline frowned and made a disapproving noise. “If Jacquelack can’t make it, then no one can.”

“Jacquelack? Maddie, are you fucking kidding me?”

Isabelle and Leven were laughing so hard they were almost crying, burying their faces in their scarves so they didn’t piss Jackie off anymore. Mackenzie was trying to hide her smile, and Jen was a second away from spitting out her hot chocolate. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard,” Mackenzie said from the end of the row, risking a boob punch from Jackie.

“Jacquelack is not a thing, either in name or in reality.”

Madeline rolled her eyes. “You’ll get there, baby.”

At that moment, all the lights in the stadium went out, sending everyone into complete darkness. The huge jumbotron lit up with Dalton’s intro video, and everyone immediately started screaming. Isabelle grabbed Jackie’s hand on her left and Madeline’s on her right, heart pounding. Alex came up larger than life on the screen, sitting on a bench in Dalton’s locker room, helmet off and head down. As the music got louder and the bass line built, he looked up, right into the camera, and Isabelle’s heart almost stopped. The screen showed huge plays by Dalton’s players, flashing through the greatness of seasons past. As the video came to an end, smoke began filling the field, beams of light shooting across it, and without warning, Dalton’s players burst onto the field, the crowd’s roars engulfing them completely. The girls jumped up, screaming. They were close enough to the field that they could see all of the players clearly. 

Triton came out onto the field next, dressed all in black, and they looked intimidating. Alex had told Isabelle about them – their offensive line was faster than Dalton’s, their defensive line was bigger than Dalton’s, and they had guys on their team who played like they had been in college for three years. “To be honest,” he said sleepily, laying in Isabelle’s bed as she rubbed his back, “I’m scared, Belle.”

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t really matter how hard we work if they have more natural talent than us, right?”

“Wrong. You just have to want it more.”

Isabelle looked for Alex among all the players on Dalton’s sideline, searching him out to see what his facial expression was, but she couldn’t find him. They were all milling around, getting things ready, stretching, shaking out their shoulders, gathering into their position teams. Then she saw him, the big number 77 stretching across the back of his jersey. He was sitting down on a bench, his position coach kneeling down in front of him. His right knee was shaking up and down, his cleat bouncing on the ground, a tell tale sign that he was nervous.

Jackie slapped her hand down on Isabelle’s own knee, making her aware of the fact that she was doing the exact same thing Alex was, nervous energy coursing through her body. “Calm down, Is. You don’t have to be worried. He’s gonna do great.”

“I’m not worried. Who said I was worried?”

Leven had her face buried in her phone on the other side of Jackie, tears leaking from her eyes in the biting wind. “Lev, pay attention!” Mackenzie blew on her hot chocolate, nudging Leven in the side.

“Why? Nothing is happening yet.”

As if on cue, Alex stood up from the bench, Liam and one of the other seniors joining him, one on each side of him. They walked out onto the field, meeting the three Triton captains in the center of the field. 

**IsabelleFuhrman: Wish you guys were here!  
** **AmandlaStenberg: Us too! How’s it going?  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Halftime and they’re down, 33 to 14.  
** **WillowShields: Yikes…  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: Cross your fingers!**

The locker room was deathly quiet. 

Alex was sitting on a bench, Mark on one side and Dayo on the other. Liam was across from him, head down, eyes closed, helmet on the concrete floor between his cleats. Alex’s team was spread out around him, no one speaking or moving or barely even breathing. 

Eventually, after what seemed like a few lifetimes but was probably only a minute or two, Coach walked into the room, flanked by the assistant coaches and the trainers, everyone who had been there, working them, helping them, healing them for the past few months. Alex focused on the cement under his cleats, the feel of the locker against his back, the aches and pains that spiked across his body. Anything to get through this.

“I don’t have much to say to you all,” Coach said quietly, barely breaking the silence. Alex winced, swallowing hard. They were about to get a lecture. “Except for how… proud I am of you.” Alex looked up. What?

He continued. “You’ve given me everything you have. You’ve shown up, you’ve worked your asses off, and you’ve been the best.”

“But Coach,” Mark said, his voice hoarse from all the yelling he had done during the first half. “We’re losing.”

“Listen to me.” Coach looked Alex in the eye, nodding swiftly at him. “You all are winners. At the end of the day, it’s not about the score. It’s not about who made more touchdowns or had a longer possession time. It’s about who wants it more. Who’s willing to put in the work. Who is willing to play like a champion. And you all have done that. You put in the work already. So all you need to do is believe that you can win.”

Alex felt goosebumps race down his arms that had nothing to do with the frigid temperature outside. 

“Do you?” Coach continued. “Do you believe you can win?”

“Clear eyes, full hearts,” Alex muttered, Mark glancing at him.

“What was that, Ludwig?”

“Clear eyes, full hearts,” he said louder, Mark and Dayo joining in with him.

“Clear eyes, full hearts,” the rest of the team echoed at full volume.

“Can’t lose.”

“Can’t lose!”

**IsabelleFuhrman: WE WON!  
** **AmandlaStenberg: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: YES!!!  
** **WillowShields: HOLY SHIT!  
** **AmandlaStenberg: Say congrats to the boys for us!!  
** **IsabelleFuhrman: See you when we get back!**

“Are you sure you want me to meet your parents?” Isabelle asked nervously, adjusting her necklace. She was standing next to Alex in the lobby of their hotel, uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot. 

“You’ve already met them, babe.” He looked down at her smiling, but he was also fidgeting with his tie unconsciously. “So no big.”

“I’ve met them as a random Dalton student, not as… you know.”

“My girlfriend?”

“Well.” Isabelle cleared her throat. “Yeah.” 

“Trust me,” Alex said, putting his arm around her shoulder. “You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re easily the most impressive girl I’ve ever introduced to them.”

“Oh please. I’m definitely not good enough for my State champion boyfriend.”

“Well…” Alex smiled down at her. “That’s true.”

She lightly punched him in the stomach, Alex laughing at the indignant sound she made. “I’m just kidding,” he said, leaning down to kiss her temple. “You know I’m just kidding.”

“I know.”


	13. Chapter 13

The truth was simple – she loved Dalton.

When Isabelle had arrived on campus almost four months ago, she never would have predicted that she would have fallen in love with it so fast: not only with the school itself, but with the classes, the atmosphere, the community, and most of all, her friends. She had come into it expecting to hate it, but what she had found was so much bigger than anything she could have imagined.

Before she had left New York, Elina had told her that life was made up of choices, and that Isabelle was in charge of her story. She had said it after Isabelle had been pouting for a few hours straight to get her to change her attitude, but the truth of it rang far beyond a teenager’s mood swings.

Her mother’s words were running through her head on repeat now. “Your life is made up of choices, Isabelle.” To love or to let go, to be a hero or to hide, to live or to die.

This was not what Isabelle had signed up for. This is not what she had thought boarding school would be like.

She had to find Alex. She had to find Jackie. And most of all, above everything else, she had to find Madeline.

She had to find help.

Isabelle ran across the Common, darting behind one of the dorms on the far side of the circle, one of the buildings bordering the forest. It was crazy that up until now, her biggest problem had been how to sneak off campus and into the woods to party. How had that been her biggest problem? Campus was eerily quiet; the birds weren’t even chirping. Snow was falling gently, making it seem peaceful, quiet, serene, even though it was anything but.

She was shaking too much to even breathe, her breaths coming out in short, sharp puffs, floating away from her in the cold December air. Her hands, arms, and the front of her sweatshirt were stained red with blood, and at this point, she couldn’t even tell whose blood it was. 

Correction: Isabelle used to love Dalton. 

But after this, nothing would ever be the same. 

 

It was crazy to Alex that here, at the end of everything, it was not Mark next to him, or Dayo or Jack, or even Isabelle. Instead, it was Leven. Of course it was Leven. 

Alex pulled his phone out of his sweatshirt pocket, hurriedly calling up his conversation thread with Isabelle. He had been frantically texting her since all the chaos had started, but she wasn’t answering and he had passed panic mode a long time ago. He didn’t want to call her in case she was hiding somewhere, in fear that he would make things worse for her.

“Alex,” Leven hissed from where she was huddled up next to him. “Please, I’m begging you, get off your phone. Someone is gonna hear us or see us and I’m scared, I’m so fucking scared, please.”

The fact that Leven was practically begging was a big deal, since even saying the word please was a stretch for her on a normal day. But this was the farthest thing from a normal day that Alex had ever experienced, to say the least. He locked his phone, making sure it was on silent before sliding it back into his pocket. 

“Leven.” He looked back at her over his shoulder where she was cuddled up behind his back, shaking almost uncontrollably. “Everything is going to be okay. Okay? Hey, look at me. We’re going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” she said, her voice wavering. This wasn’t the Leven who Alex had known for the last few years – this was an entirely different version of her.

“I do.” He reached behind him, gently putting his hand on her knee to try to stop her from shaking. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, good.”

It was absolutely blowing Alex’s mind, almost more than any of the other shit currently going on, that he was sitting here having a casual, almost normal conversation with Leven after everything that had gone down in the last couple of weeks. They had both been in the library when everyone started screaming, and Alex had instinctively grabbed Leven, dragging her under the table where they were now crouched down, hiding.

“Alex?” She piped up from behind him, her voice small. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Lev.”

“No, I just need to say it.”

“Look.” They were both whispering, barely able to hear each other even though the library was deathly quiet around them, the silence menacing. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We’re good.”

“Okay.”

“And when we make it out of this alive, I promise we’ll still be good.”

“Promise.”

“Promise.”

Alex was looking back at Leven, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, doing anything he could think of to calm her down when she looked past him, eyes widening, her mouth barely opening before he felt an unreal pain in his shoulder. Leven was screaming wordlessly, the sound piercing through the haze of pain, and he glanced down at his knee, registering the hole in it and the blood staining the front of his jeans. Leven just kept screaming and screaming until suddenly there was another shot, and she was quiet.

 

 

Everything had been exceedingly normal when Isabelle had woken up that morning. It was revision week, which meant no classes, just an inordinate amount of free time that was supposed to be filled with studying, but was mainly just taken up by partying, sleeping, and maybe a little bit of finals prep. Isabelle planned to go to the library with Alex that morning, but had woken up late, quickly jumping up and yanking on relatively clean sweats and texting him that she was sorry and she was on her way.

He had already been at the library for an hour by the time she left her dorm room after quickly wolfing down breakfast. Jackie was still fast asleep – Isabelle knew that she had been crying herself to sleep every night since Thanksgiving, and nothing Isabelle said was helping her out of her funk. She didn’t know what to do, but she figured she could tackle that problem after finals were over and she finally had time to breathe.

The group dynamic hadn’t gotten much better since they got back from State. Leven and Isabelle were still circling each other warily, and Jackie and Jack were icy cold. When they were all together, there was a definite chill in the air, one that made Isabelle really glad that her relationship with Alex was relatively drama free, or at least nothing she couldn’t handle. 

Speaking of her relationship with Alex: she glanced down at her phone as she pushed out the front door of the dorm, smiling down at her screensaver which was a Snapchat of Alex at the gym that she had screenshotted and immediately set as her lock screen. The truth was her relationship with Alex had grown so exponentially since they had met, since he had charmed her way into his life. Her feelings for him were so much more genuine than anything she had ever felt for anyone before. She wasn’t scared anymore – she knew that whenever she texted him or called him or needed him, he would be there. Her favorite thing in the entire world was quickly becoming rolling over in the morning and feeling him slip his arms around her, pulling her close to him and burrowing his face into the warmth of his neck, all without even waking up.

Isabelle was too engrossed in her phone to notice how eerie campus was. There was a light snow falling, slowly blanketing the campus and almost deafening everything, making it softer and quieter. There were no chirping birds, no students talking as they crossed the Common. Everyone was inside where it was warm.

Except for Mark and Dayo, apparently.

“Isabelle, what the fuck are you doing?” They appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Isabelle and dragging her into the dining hall, covering her mouth. They didn’t stop once they were inside, continuing through the dining hall and into the kitchen, pushing through the swinging metal doors and shoving Isabelle into the huge walk in freezer, pulling the door shut behind them.

Mark had had his hand over her mouth the entire time, so once they were in the freezer and he let it drop, she just stared at them for a few seconds before bursting out with a, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Isabelle—”

“No, I’m already late to meet Alex. I’m not in the mood for a prank right now.”

She pushed past both of them, and Dayo immediately hit her with a tackle, dragging her down onto the ice cold ground of the freezer and pinning her there. “Stay down, Isabelle,” Dayo hissed, his knee in the center of her back as Mark sneaked past them to the door, peeking out the window of the freezer. 

“What’s going on?” It was finally starting to hit Isabelle that Mark and Dayo weren’t joking around, weren’t pranking her – something was actually wrong. “You guys, come on. You’re freaking me out.”

Dayo finally rolled off her, and Mark slid down onto the floor, his back against the door of the freezer. “Someone’s shooting.”

Isabelle sat up, pulling her Harvard sweatshirt tighter around her against the chill of the freezer. “What? No, you’re wrong.”

Mark shook his head. “First of all,” he whispered, “you have to be quiet or he’s going to find us. Second of all, we’re completely serious.”

She ignored him completely, her voice rising high in panic. “No, you’re wrong. You heard wrong, you don’t—”

“Isabelle,” Dayo hissed, grabbing her by the shoulder and forcing her to focus on him. “Someone. Is. Shooting.”

It only took a few seconds to register in Isabelle’s brain. She never would have thought that something like this could happen to her, to her friends. You think you’re safe, that tragedies cannot touch you. They are things that you watch on television. Your heart goes out to the people who lost their loved ones. You watch the bombs go off. You watch the towers go down. You watch the planes crash and the bridges collapse and the people die. All around the world, there is death and destruction and pain and heartbreak. But it seems so far away, until it happens to you. 

Mark and Dayo quickly filled Isabelle in on what they knew and what had happened so far. They had been in the gym, messing around and trying to avoid studying for finals when Liam had run in, panic on his face.

“You guys,” he said, his normally calm demeanor completely gone. “You’ve got to get out of here. Get everyone out of here – we have to go. Now.”

They took him seriously immediately – Liam was not the type of guy who would fuck around. “I was on my way here and I heard gunshots. You need to go to your room and lock yourself in, okay? I’ll track down the girls. Just go.”

Mark and Dayo took off immediately, running across the Common where they found Isabelle and dragged her into hiding.

“Who is shooting?” 

Dayo shook his head. “We don’t know.”

“Where is everyone?”

Again, no idea. 

Panic bloomed even deeper in Isabelle’s chest. Jackie, Alex, Madeline – all of them were out there somewhere. She pulled her phone out, lighting up the darkness of the freezer, but every time she tried to send a message it came back as undeliverable. “Piece of shit.” She shoved it back into her pocket. “Someone needs to get ahold of everyone. And someone needs to fucking call the cops or something or whoever you call in a situation like this.”

At this, both boys shook their heads. “We left our phones in the gym. And I’m guessing the network is probably down because everyone is trying to get ahold of everyone.”

“So we’re fucked.”

“Listen to me, Is.” Dayo grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. “We’re going to get out of this. We’re going to find our friends. And I’m going to find the fucker doing this and put an end to it.”

“Dayo, no.”

“No what?”

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

Suddenly Mark shushed them, kicking both of them and shaking his head, his eyes huge with alarm. “What?” Isabelle mouthed at him as quietly as she could. He gestured behind him, pointing over his shoulder to the door.

“Someone is out there,” he whispered back. “Just be quiet.”

Isabelle was shaking almost uncontrollably, and Dayo scooted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her into the warmth of his side. He rubbed her shoulder comfortingly and she buried her head into his sweatshirt. “It’s gonna be okay, Isabelle,” he whispered into her hair, trying to disguise the tightness of the anxiety lacing through his voice. “I’ll make sure you’re okay, don’t worry.”

She didn’t see what was happening, but she could hear it. The door handle turned slowly, and Mark, who was still sitting with his back against the door, stretched his legs out, bracing himself against a box of frozen something or other, trying to keep it closed. But whoever was on the other side was either stronger or had more leverage than Mark did, and it slowly opened, light slipping through the crack in the door. 

Isabelle looked up from Dayo’s side, her heart pounding so hard in her ears she could barely hear anything. They couldn’t see, their eyes adjusting slowly to the light, and all she could make out was someone standing in the open door, their shadow cast long over the freezer. Mark sat up from where he had been pushed onto the floor, turning his head to see who was behind him.

And then she realized who it was. “Ian?”

“Isabelle?”

“Quick, get in here and close the door. Someone is out there, someone is shooting, you’ve gotta hide.”

And then, too quickly for her to register, too quickly for her to do anything, there was a gun pointing at her head.

 

 

“Do you really want to talk about this now? Now when there is a shit show apparently happening outside?”

“Why not? We’re stuck here. We can’t leave and no one can get in here, so what else is there to do?”

“I don’t know, have sex?”

“Jack.”

“Fine. Let’s talk.”

Silence.

“Well come on, Jackie. What do you want to talk about?”

“Us. Everything. I don’t know.”

“Okay. So talk.”

“When did everything get so screwed up?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re sitting here in a fucking closet barely speaking to each other. There is some sort of fucked up disaster going on outside. And you won’t even look at me.”

“You kept secrets.”

“That’s why you’re mad? I kept a secret? It wasn’t my secret to tell!”

Silence.

“Jack.”

Jackie had woken up that morning with a sore throat. She had been able to feel it coming for days – the scratchiness at the back of her mouth, slowly easing its way downward, making her voice deeper, raspier. It always happened in the winter, when the wind was icy and the days dark. Winter came and Jackie got sick – like clockwork.

And now, sitting in a tiny pitch-black closet with her ex-boyfriend by her side (Was he even her ex? Could you be someone’s ex if you were never theirs in the first place?), a crazed gunman or ax murderer or serial killer or something stalking the grounds of their home, it was her sore throat that she was thinking about. 

Because even though it was sore, and even though it took all her energy to rasp out a couple of sentences, it hurt even worse when it started to close up, the tears stinging behind her eyes, that awful dark gray feeling that hit you just when you were about to cry.

Jack was right in front of her, but he had never felt farther away.

Or at least so she thought.

If she looked a little closer (“You’ve just got to get out of your own head, Jac. You think too much. You always think too much. Not everything is as bad as you think it is. Okay?”), she would be able to see that Jack was everywhere, even when he wasn’t. It wasn’t just that he was in the dining hall and in class and in this closet – it was that he was in her, and not in a dirty way. He was in her thoughts and her words – everything she did was connected to him. 

“Jackie, don’t, oh God, please don’t.” And she didn’t realize she had been crying until Jack was crawling over the closet floor, putting his knee in a bucket in the process, to sit beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder. “Please don’t cry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

And as the world fell apart around them, they somehow managed to put theirs back together. 

 

 

“Ian, what the – what the fuck – what are you doing?”

All Isabelle could manage to get out apparently were fragments of sentences, the words getting stuck in the back of her throat. But who could blame her?

Going from a normal boring sort of day to one where you were hiding in a freezer from a school shooter – God, a school shooter. Wasn’t that just the kind of stuff you saw on the nightly news, separated from you by miles and states and comfort? But then throw in the fact that you knew him, or at least you thought you did, and she was shocked she had any words at all, even curse words. 

She knew him, and he was standing here with a gun in his hand, shaking slightly, his wrist curving like it was too heavy for him, like the weight of the world had finally become too much for him to bear. Isabelle was too caught up in the complete fucking improbability of the situation in front of her that she didn’t even notice Mark and Dayo glancing at each other and backing up slowly, trying to pull her with them as if it would somehow get them all out of harm’s way. 

But it was a gun. Ian had a gun in his hands. Ian had a gun in his fucking hands. “Ian, what are you doing?” she repeated, as if saying it over and over would somehow bring some clarification to the shit show staring them in the face. 

“Isabelle, go sit down.” His voice was quiet, small, the way it had always been, like he wasn’t used to taking up so much space in the world. 

“What?”

“Sit. Down.” It was more of a spitting demand this time.

So she did – of course she did. What else do you do in this situation? She went and sat against the wall of the freezer, cold against her back even through her sweatshirt. Dayo and Mark were still frozen – Isabelle wasn’t sure they had even let out a breath since Ian had burst in.

And then Ian gestured the gun at them, thrusting it forward in a gesture meant to threaten, which it clearly did. Dayo and Mark stumbled backwards, tripping over their own feet and each other in their haste to get away from the death staring them in the face. 

“Dude.” Dayo held his hands out in what might be a placating manner on anyone else, but on Dayo just looked intimidating. 

And that’s when Ian shot him in the head.

Isabelle couldn’t help herself. She started screaming, launched herself at Ian even as Mark grabbed her sweatshirt, yanking her back. “What the fuck did you do?” She could hear herself, hear the words coming out of her mouth, knew why she was yelling but couldn’t really comprehend.

Mark let go of her, down on the floor by Dayo who had dropped like a stone, leaning over him and murmuring as if he could hear him, as if he wasn’t already gone. Ian had turned the gun on Mark, but he didn’t see it, didn’t comprehend what was happening. None of them did really, not even Ian. 

It looked like Ian was himself again for a second, the person Isabelle had met the first week of school, not this crazy monster in front of them. As he stared at Dayo lying on the ground, the hole in his forehead glaring at them, the veil of hatred slipped, revealing a scared kid. And that was when Mark took his chance, jumping up and slamming Ian into the ground.

They scrabbled around for the gun, their hands numbed by fear and cold and disbelief. A shot went off as they struggled, Isabelle coiling backwards. But this time it was Ian hurt. Mark grabbed for the gun, just out of his reach, sliding backwards across the frozen floor from the recoil, but Ian got it first. He didn’t take his time, firing a bullet into Mark’s leg even as the blood poured out of his own shoulder.

Dayo was dead.

Mark was down and fading quickly, the blood pooling underneath him.

It was just Isabelle left. She was still next to Dayo, her head resting on his chest as if she could will him back into existence. And Ian was just looking at her.

“Do not help them,” he said, his voice low and cold. “Do you understand me? You cannot help them. There’s nothing you can do anymore.”

She didn’t say anything, couldn’t form the words. She just closed her eyes, waiting to die.

She had seen the life go out of Dayo’s eyes. It happened right in front of her. She had watched him stop breathing.

And she was going to be next.

As she knelt there, eyes closed, she saw the last few months pass before her. It wasn’t fast, like they say, not like it was flashing before her eyes. It went slowly, so that she could see everything. Every little detail.

Walking onto campus on the first day. Running into Alex at the housing office.

Jackie bursting into their room, full of life and energy and sunshine. God, where was Jackie?

The parties at the Circle.

Dayo trying to help Liam build the bonfire, even as Liam was insisting he knew what he was doing. Dayo at Thanksgiving, so worried about everything being perfect even as they were all falling apart around him. Dayo saving Alex from fighting and ruining friendships and being stupid. 

Sitting in the basement of the library with Alex during the storm.

Watching him score touchdowns. Watching him win State.

Kissing him for the first time. Kissing him for the hundredth time.

Falling in love.

Watching her sister fall in love.

It was a dozen, a hundred, a thousand small moments that added up to a life. And it was all about to be over.

 

“I can’t get it to work!”

“Try again,” Jen pleaded. “They’re out there somewhere.”

“I know,” Liam said, his arms around her, trying desperately to send a text, an email, a tweet, anything. “We’ll find them. They’re okay.”

They were in one of the locker rooms at the gym, Jen and Liam and Josh and Mackenzie. Liam had tried to get as many people out as possible, sending Mark and Dayo away and back to the safety of their dorm. Mackenzie had been there with Josh, over at the weight benches when Jen had come in, seconds behind Liam.

“He’s shooting,” she had said breathlessly, barely able to get the words out.

“I heard shots,” Liam told her. “Do you know who it is?”

“That kid Alex fought.”

“Ian.”

“Yes.”

Liam grabbed her, Josh, and Mackenzie, running to the giant glass front doors of the gym and peering out. That was when he saw Ian coming out of the dining hall, blood all over his shoulder and arm and chest, sweatshirt pockets bulging, gun gripped tightly in his hand.

He was looking around, like the sun was blinding him, breath coming out in quick puffs of air, one after the other. He locked eyes with Liam, who quickly jumped back out of sight, pulling the other three with him.

Liam thought quickly. “Okay,” he said. “We have to hide. We can’t go outside right now.”

“What?” Mackenzie’s voice rose in panic. She had been behind him, didn’t see Ian. “What do you mean we can’t go outside?”

“Listen to me,” Liam said, grabbing her by the shoulders. He held onto her tightly, ensuring that she would calm down, that she would listen to him, that she would stay safe. “You are going to be okay, do you hear me?”

He pulled them out of the lobby, out of sight to the locker room, shoving them inside and pulling the door shut tight behind them, wedging a bench in between the door and a locker so that it wouldn’t open no matter how hard someone tried from the other side. 

They were trying to send out texts, to Amandla and Willow, Jack and Jackie, Dayo and Mark, Isabelle and Alex, Leven and Madeline, but they were all coming back, one after the other, bright red circles next to each message indicating that they weren’t going through. 

“If we can’t send texts, how can we call 911?” Josh asked, trying not to let panic creep into his voice. He knew that they couldn’t, knew that Liam knew it too, knew that saying the words out loud would scare the girls. 

Liam swallowed. “Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said after a moment. “I’m going to go up onto the roof—”

“No.” Jen interrupted him immediately, resolute look on her face. “No, you’re not.”

“I have to. I have to call someone. I have to make sure the others are alright.”

“You’re not going.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I won’t let you.”

Liam looked at Josh, jutting his chin out in his best friend’s direction. “Keep her here,” he told Josh, knowing that he would, knowing his girlfriend would be safe. “Put the bench back after I leave. Stack them up. You’ll be safe.” Josh grabbed Jen, but Liam could hear her screaming as he slipped out the door, knew she was pounding on it behind him even as Josh was sliding benches across the floor, trying to keep them alive.

 

He had left, and she was still breathing. Dayo was dead next to her, his body already cooling. She could feel the heat leaching out of him in waves, even in the coldness of the freezer. Mark was alive, but barely. His breaths were coming quickly, shallowly.

She didn’t know what to do. God, she didn’t know anything.

Ian had walked out the door, taking the gun with him, but the horror of what he had done was left behind. It filled her lungs, her nose, her air.

Blood had a smell. Everyone knew that in theory, but she hadn’t really known that until it was all around her.

She grabbed Mark, knowing she shouldn’t move him but doing it anyways. She couldn’t leave him there, not when he might freeze to death. She propped open the door with a box, not looking at Dayo as she did so. She managed to get Mark out the door and into the empty kitchen, a trail of blood behind him.

She tried to move Dayo next, but he was too big, even in death.

“Mark,” she whispered, leaning down beside him. He couldn’t hear her, slowly slipping away from her. She knew she had to get help. She knew he was dying. “I’m going to get someone. I’ll be right back. Okay? I’ll be right back.”

 

“Fuck!” Alex grit his teeth, the scream slipping past his lips before he could stop it. “Fuck!”

“Please,” Leven said, tears spilling down over her face, her arm clamped against her side, held in place by sheer force of will. “Please, Alex, you have to be quiet, he’ll be back, he’s going to come back.” She had pulled Alex’s shirt off, trying to tie it around his leg to stop the bleeding.

“Oh my God, I’m going to kill him, Leven,” he told her. “I’m going to fucking kill him when I see him, I swear to God.”   
“Alex, please, shut up, please.” She tried to drag him one-armed into the bathroom, a closet, somewhere, anywhere safe where they could lock the door behind them and figure out what to do.

If he saw that motherfucker again, he would kill him, as sure as he was here now.

He would kill him.

 

Liam made it to the roof, looking over his shoulder every two seconds to make sure no one was following him. It wasn’t Ian he was worried about. It was Jen. God only knew how long Josh could hold her back.

He pushed the door open, cold December air hitting his face. He dialed quickly.

“911, what is the address of your emergency?”

Oh, thank God.

“Dalton,” he breathed out. “We’re at Dalton.”

 

Jack poked his head out of the closet, looking around. They were on the first floor of Maxwell in the janitor’s closet, but they still didn’t know what was going on, who was out there, if it was safe.

He looked left and then right, no one around. It was a ghost town.

“Jackie,” he whispered. “I’m going to go see what’s going on.”

“What?” She grabbed the back of his shirt. “Are you out of your fucking mind? The hell you are!”

“It’s okay,” he said, reaching back and unlatching her fingers one by one. “I won’t go outside. Whoever it is can’t get in here, right?”

“You’re not going alone,” she said determinedly. “I’m coming with you.”

And that’s how they ended up crouched down beneath one of the big plate glass windows at the front of the dorm, peeking up to see out.

That’s when they saw Liam fall from the top of the gym.

 

It was happening in slow motion, Jen thought. It had to be happening in slow motion, because that’s what happened in your dreams when something bad happened, right? It was a dream, a nightmare, because this wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

People didn’t break out guns and start shooting each other. The person you loved didn’t die right in front of you. Stuff like that just didn’t happen.

But it did happen. It was happening.

She had followed Liam up to the gym. Of course she had. It had taken her a few minutes to get past Josh, eventually pushing one of the benches at him and darting outside before he had a chance to get up.

She had gotten to the roof too late, a few minutes – maybe even seconds – before Ian had gotten there. He was pointing his gun at Liam.

“Put it down!” Ian was screaming. “Shut up! Hang up!”

Liam was holding onto his phone tightly, up to his ear, speaking quickly. “One shooter,” he was saying. “Ian Nelson. Dark hair. Blue sweatshirt. Jeans. It’s just him. You have to hurry. He’s shooting people, I don’t know how many, I don’t know if anyone is dead—”

The shot rang out in the air, cold and clear and final. Liam dropped his phone, stumbling backwards and looking at the blood blooming on his chest. He looked up, not at Ian, but at Jen. He was still looking at her as he slipped backwards, over the ledge, falling.

She pushed past Ian, barely even feeling the bullet enter her spine as she looked at her boyfriend lying on the ground, far below the top of the gym. She kept her eyes trained on him as the life went out of her lungs.

 

Leven couldn’t move Alex anymore, the pain in her arm too much for her. She dropped down onto the ground next to him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, panting. “I can’t do it. I can’t do it anymore, I’m sorry.”

“Leven,” he said, his breaths coming quickly. “It’s okay. You did perfectly.” He pushed himself up into a sitting position, pressing his lips against the side of her head. Something caught his eye, movement out on the quad, and he quickly ducked down out of sight, pulling Leven with him.

“What is it?” Her breath caught in her lungs. “Is it him?”

Alex raised his head infinitesimally, trying to see out the window without anyone seeing him.

“No, it’s… Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“Alex, what is it?”

He didn’t answer, struggling to get up, his leg collapsing under him even as he placed his hands on the windowsill, willing himself to stand, willing himself to stop her.

 

“Madeline!”

Her sister quickly whipped around, pulling her jacket tighter around her in the cold. “Isabelle? What are you doing out here?”

“What are you doing out here?” Isabelle ran up to her, grabbing her arm and looking around. She had seen Liam fall to the ground, Jen dropping to her knees at the top of the gym. She knew that’s where Ian was, knew she had to get her sister somewhere safe. She had to find someone to help.

“I…” Madeline looked lost. “I don’t know… I was studying in the lab and I… What’s going on?”

“It’s Ian,” Isabelle said quickly, dragging her sister carefully over the packed snow as she talked, trying to get as far away from the gym as possible. If they could just get to the dorm, they would be safe. He wouldn’t be able to follow them there.

“What about Ian?”

“He’s shooting.”

“What?” Madeline stopped, her legs giving out underneath her.

“We have to go, Maddie. We have to get out of here.”

“Where is everyone?”

“Maddie, come on!”

She took her eyes off the gym for one second, looking around frantically. They were too out in the open, too exposed. They had to get inside. When she turned back around, Madeline was backing away from her, hands raised, trembling.

Ian was there. He looked like he was in pain, had to be hurting from the bullet wound in his arm. “You,” he said, voice rough, gun pointed at Isabelle’s head. “I thought I told you stay where you were.”

She couldn’t speak. 

“None of this would be happening it if weren’t for you,” he said. “You know that, right?” It was almost like he was making conversation, would have been if the words coming out of his mouth hadn’t been like giant black clouds hanging over them. 

“Ian, I… I don’t know what to…”

“Shut up, Isabelle. For once, just shut up!”

Isabelle thought she could hear screaming behind her, screaming that sounded like Alex, but that was in her head. Even here, at the end, he was with her. She swallowed.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Ian said. She lifted her head, trying to meet his eyes. She wasn’t going to go out like this. “If I was going to do that, it would’ve been before. With Dayo and Mark.”

Madeline drew in a sharp breath, hand coming to rest on her stomach like she wasn’t even thinking about it.

“No,” Ian said. “Instead I’m going to kill the people you love. One by one. Dayo. Mark. Alex. And you.” He slid the gun over to Madeline. Isabelle watched it happen in slow motion, watched his finger curl around the trigger, felt herself jumping forward, falling on her knees in front of him.

“She’s pregnant,” she breathed out, her voice almost failing her. “She’s pregnant.”

She watched him pull the gun back, pointing it up slightly, not at her, not her sister. He hesitated for a moment before extending his arm, putting the cold metal against her forehead. She heard Madeline scream behind her. Tasted the fear in her mouth. Felt her stomach curl up.

One more shot.

It was finished.


End file.
